And Baby Makes Three

Early in her pregnancy, my wife Heidi and I had many spirited debates over what to name our son. We knew he was a boy and so I (naturally) suggested we name him Matthew Klint Jr, so that we could share frequent flyer and other loyalty benefits. I jest not.

My wife, bless her, said that one Matthew in the house was enough and under no circumstance would she agree to name him Matthew. End of discussion, though it did not stop me from proposing it on several subsequent occasions.

Our prime criteria for a name was something that was pronounced the same in English and German, so that he would not be called one thing by the German side of the family and something else by the American side. We eventually agreed on Augustine, which is a classic Latin name with religious roots that is pronounced the same in German and English. Augustine of Hippo is also attributed with saying, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” Turns out like most ancient writings there is some scholarly disagreement over whether he actually said that, but he certainly seemed to capture that thought in some of his writings.

Well, Augustine arrived yesterday and mama and baby are doing very well:

I had mentioned to a client about the birth of my son and she tweeted–

And thinking back to the popular Dr. Seuss book by the same name, I love that affirmation — oh, the places you’ll go. Indeed, Augustine, I look forward to showing you the world. Welcome.