My over-quoted (and often times misunderstood) friend, Billy Shakespeare once wrote this line for a swoony 14-year old character named Juliet who was pining over a boy who happened to be from the rival family:

What is in a name?  That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

But it is the line that I think of whenever I talk about how Eddie got his name or when people ask me to pronounce my last name.

It’s true, Eddie would be the same little sweetie pants if his name was Banana Hammock, but really?

 Is this the face of someone named Banana Hammock?  I think not.  So I think Juliet is wrong.  I don’t think something called Stank Flower WOULD smell as sweet as a rose.  That is how things GET their names…by their characteristics.

So how did Eddie get his name?  My efriend, Sian told me she would LOVE to hear (er, read?) the story.  It’s not earth-shattering, but it’s how even before we met this chocolate-loving face, we knew his name.

Eddie’s full name is Edward Steven Sluiter.

This was the ONLY name we wanted for a boy.  We had girl names picked out too, you know, in case, but the ONE name that was completely solid was Edward Steven.

Eddie was supposed to have a grandpa named Steve.  Papa Steve died four years before Eddie was born.  This is Papa Steve:

Good looking guy, wasn’t he?  Yeah, don’t let that tie and jacket fool you either.  This guy?  He was a ball of fun and had a naughty little twinkle in his eye.  So this is where Eddie’s middle name came from.  His Papa.

On a side note, this picture sits on our bookcase and Eddie can reach it.  He took it down so many times and “kissed” it that I had to move it for fear that he would one day accidentally break the glass. We still take it down together though and I tell him how cool his Papa is.

Soo…his first name.  My husband had a Great Grandpa named Edward.  This Great Grandpa was Steve’s Grandpa.  Are you following?  Well, Papa Steve and Super Great Grandpa Edward shared not only a birthday (August 9), but they also had a special bond.  They were inseparable.  So Eddie got his name from Super Great Grandpa Edward.  Here is Super Great Grandpa:

I know, I know.  ALSO a great looking chap. You are probably seeing some family resemblance by now.

When we told Cort’s Grandma Sluiter Eddie’s name, she said, “my dad and my son.”  I never thought of it that way until right then.  It was so special.

We even had Eddie baptized on August 9 (his namesakes’ birthdays) in his Papa Steve’s baptismal outfit.

So like I said, we name things by their characteristics.  Something inside me (maybe even Eddie himself) had me CONVINCED this child was going to look like his daddy (and the men from that side of the family).  So his name?  Fit the characteristics I just KNEW he would have.  His Papa was funny and dazzlingly witty (so is his daddy, by the way). His Super Great Grandpa was strong and hard working.  And the chubby cheeks and curly hair?  It had to be.

BUT…really, I can’t end this post here, because Eddie’s WHOLE name is Edward Steven Sluiter.

Sluiter has it’s place at the top of this blog.  Sluiter is on my classroom door.  Sluiter is on all our mail.  Shoot there are even teenagers running around with Sluiter blazoned across their chests on T-shirts.  So SLUITER is a big part of Eddie’s name.

Sluiter is Dutch in origin.  In “The Old Country” it is pronounced SLOOTER (and if you are watching World Cup?  You might just see someone pronouncing it that way).

Here in the States?  We do NOT pronounce it that way.  I felt the need to clear this up recently because I got a comment that whenever this particular reader looks the blog she thinks in her head “Slut-y-ier Nation”.  Um.  no please.  NO.  No sluts here.

It’s pronounced “Sliter”.  Or “Sly-ter”  When we were in high school my husband told me, “it’s like your slider door to the backyard, but with a ‘t’.”  That “u”?  Totally U-seless.  Not doing a dang thing in there but being all Dutch.  But I like it.  Because when I look at our last name, I see “u” and “i”.  you and I.  A team.  A Nation.

So there you have it.