Choosing a name

When we chose to name him Ryan, it was a name I had loved beyond the course of my pregnancy. Writing it constantly on a paper practicing each stroke.

Ryan was a sweet and quiet little man. Please and thank you was a part of every sentence he spoke. He was my partner in all things reading, play-doh and Nintendo. Loved the movies Aladdin, Jungle Book and Fern Gully. His favorite book was “If you give a mouse a cookie”

And if I listen… I can still hear his laughter

He went to preschool on an IEP for speech, three days a week. Within his class were many children with varying disabilities, and Ryan was a friend to them all. His teacher soon asked if he could attend a 4th day since he had such a calming influence on the other students. Some of those children attended his funeral; he was an angel to them.

He loved his sister and his cousin and as the oldest sacrificed all the toys to the younger two. He made everyone smile and laugh with his easygoing personality. I will never understand why he was taken from us?

We had been discussing a third child before he died, Ryan was so excited, and wanted a brother.

When we found out Zach was a boy we began the pursuit for names. What name could this child hold? We decided on Zachary, from the movie Fern Gully. It was one of his favorites.

After Zachary was born we learned the meaning of his name was “in memory of the king” and then learned Ryan’s name meant “little king”

Zachary arrived to help save us.

Today Ryan would be 28 years old, hard to imagine even as I write this. As we remember him on his birthday I plan to send out all the kindness and love he brought to our lives.

Hug your children, be kind to others, and pay it forward.

Ryan - This classic Irish masculine name comes from the clan name O’Riain (descendent of Rían). Pronounced “ree-an” in Gaelic, the name comes from the Irish-Gaelic “Rí” meaning “king” together with the diminutive suffix “-an” supplies Ryan with its full etymological meaning: “little king”.

Zachary is an English masculine personal name derived from Zacharias which is the Latin form of the Hebrew “Zekharyahu” (זְכַרְיָה) meaning “Yahweh has remembered” from the Hebrew elements “yahu” (Yahweh, God) and “zakhar” (he remembered).