the name

First – the easy part. Lobel is my last name. I didn’t take Dave’s name, and while I’m totally thrilled to have Z be a Woulfin, I want my kid to have both our names. Hyphens get complicated and since we didn’t really have any other honorary names in mind, Lobel became the middle name.

There’s no great story behind the name Ezekiel. Dave and I really struggled with boy names – looking for something unique but not too out there, and something that would stand up to a name like Woulfin. We like the biblical names – many of which are very popular right now. Ezekiel is one of those names that’s somewhat less popular, a bit more unique. It’s a name with personality and lots of potential. Ezekiel could be a scholar, an artist or a major league ball player. Zeke is everybody’s buddy, a kid with individuality and flair. And Z is just a cool-ass nickname. Interestingly, Zeke was our second choice for a boy’s name (and no, we’re not sharing our first choice). We waited until the morning after he was born to officially decide on a name, and in that time, Dave and I independently decided that he was a Zeke.

The original Ezekiel was a prophet from the old Testament. In Hebrew, the name is Yechezqel or Yechezkel – meaning “god strengthens” or simply “strength.” I don’t know much else about Ezekiel the prophet other than something about him having the ability to raise the dead, and some vision he had of a “wheel” which has been interpreted as everything from a early astronomical sighting to a UFO. I’ll have to do some more research in time to answer Zeke’s questions about his name.

As I learned in my West African dance class at Wesleyan, children in Ghana are named for the day of the week in which they were born. Zeke’s Ghanaian soul name is below:

Wednesday: Kuuku, Kwaku, Kweku

Wednesday’s child is fully in control of every situation, does not want to be told what to do, knows it all, is spontaneous, vibrant and cordial. Be sure not to cross his or her path though…

This seems about right so far 🙂