Benjamin

When we found out our second child would be a boy we went through a bunch of different name combinations. We finally settled on Robert Benthall. Robert was for my husband and his father and Benthall for a particularly adventurous and resilient branch in my family. When we shared this name with some family members, one had a particularly strong negative reaction. Even though I loved the name Benthall, I decided that it would be better to pick a different name. We were already used to calling our baby "Ben," so we settled on Benjamin Pates. I've told Ben (now 8) about the name change and just today he said, "Mom, when I go to a new school, can I change my name?" I said that was fine (doubting that he'd really follow through) and asked what his new name would be. "Benthall," he said, "what I was supposed to be named."

-Susannah, Atlanta, GA