What's in a name??

Colter Elijah Crowl

Ben and I have been mulling over a long list of names for our little boy even before we knew he was in fact a boy. We went from Brendan to Tyler to Lucas (Ben wanted Luke) and never quite felt like it was the right fit.

Back in August, we went to Hood River with Courtney and during one of our conversations, she mentioned her friend's brother named Colter. I immediately loved the name, but wanted to wait until I was alone with Ben to talk about it in case he really didn't like it. Turns out he also loved it.

The more we thought about the name, the more it seemed like a perfect fit for our first born son.

As most of you know, Ben and I both have a love for the outdoors. It seemed perfectly fitting that John Colter is considered one of the first "mountain men" who is the first known person from Europe to enter into the Yellowstone area and see the Teton Mountain Range. Ben and I have both visited Yellowstone and loved it. Ben and his family would travel to the tetons almost every summer and it is Ben's favorite place in the US.

Here is the mountain man himself.. hopefully our Colter wont get his fashion tips from him:



Probably my favorite connection to the name Colter is that Ben and his family normally camped at Colter Bay Campground every time they would visit. It looks gorgeous. I can't wait to take our little boy there someday!

Onto the middle name, Elijah. Ben thought of this one and I instantly loved it. The name Elijah means "The Lord is my God." Our biggest hope for Colter is that he will come to know, love and serve God. Although we don't imagine that Colter will make as grand of an exit from this world as Elijah did, we pray that, like Elijah, he will be passionate about worshiping God.

So there you have it, the reason and meaning behind our little boys name.