March 6-12 is Celebrate Your Name Week! I figured I’d celebrate by discussing the names of our cast of characters here at Coolest Family on the Block. I told you about how Muppet got his name and how Adaline got her name.
Today I’d like to tell you about the meaning of Adaline’s name and why I spell it “wrong”.

Before I continue telling you about how/why Adaline got her name, I’m going to take a moment to tell you how we pronounce it. Adaline is said exactly how it is spelled Add-ah-line. It is not Ay-da nor is it linn or leen. All those versions of the name are pretty, but we use the classic pronunciation of Add-ah-line.
Okay, moving on…

I’d always wanted to give my kids Bible names. I’m not really sure why, I just liked the idea of it and the Bible contains some really beautiful timeless names (and some really weird ones too). While I was looking up Biblical names I kept seeing the name “Adah” and I thought that it was really pretty. I felt that “Adah” had the same appeal as Ava, Ella, Emma, and other two-syllable names that end with the “ah” sound. My husband didn’t like it. I think he thought it sounded like an old lady or something. I knew I probably wouldn’t just name my daughter “Adah” especially since I was still hanging on to “Hannah” at the time. When my husband brought up the name “Adeline” while looking through a baby book, not only did I find the full name beautiful but right away I thought about the nickname “Ada”.

Since the meaning of the name was something that was important to me, I began researching the name Adeline and other versions/spellings of the name. Repeatedly I found that Adeline means noble, nobility, of the noble sort, and sometimes kind. I thought that these were all great meanings, so I thought I’d dig a little deeper. I’m a bit obsessive in my researching and this was no different. I decided to research the name Ada into the depths of the internet until my search engine was screaming for mercy. I was thrilled with what I found. I loved that all of the meanings were nice and lovely and I loved that there were 13 different meanings for the name in 13 different countries! In parts of Africa the name means “firstborn daughter”, which was perfect! Many of the websites showed the pronunciation of “Ay-da” while others showed “Aa-da” and some showed both. I decided to change the spelling from Adeline to Adaline so that she would have the prefix of the name “Ada” which has so many wonderful meanings. Also then it wouldn’t be so much of a stretch to use “Ada” for a nickname.

Below is a list of the meanings and origins of the name “Ada” along with links to the sources.

ADALINE/ ADELINE
MEANINGS: Noble, Nobility

ADA
MEANINGS: Brightness, Beautiful, Adorned, Adornment, Ornament, Noble, Kind, Oldest/First Daughter, Wealthy, Prosperous, Happy, Sweet, Pleasant, Joyful

ORIGINS: Hebrew / Biblical, African, Germanic, French, Greek, Danish, American, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, Teutonic, English, Hawaiian

+Hebrew / Biblical: Brightness, Beautiful, Adorned, Adornment
+African: First Daughter, Oldest Daughter
+Germanic: Noble, kind, of the noble sort
+French, Greek, Danish: Noble, Nobility
+American, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian: Noble, kind
+Teutonic: Happy
+English: Prosperous; happy, Wealthy, Happy
+Hawaiian: Happy, Ornament
+Other Meanings: Sweet, Pleasant, Joyful

Origins of Ada
(I’ve edited this due to length. To read the entire text please go here http://www.babynamespedia.com)
1: Ada has its origins in the Germanic language. It is used largely in the English, German, Hungarian, Polish, and Romanian languages. Derived from the word
adal meaning ‘noble, honorable’. The name was born in the 4th century by the sister of Mausolus, the builder of the first mausoleum, and by a 7th-century abbess in France. The name was introduced from Germany to English speakers in the late 18th century. It later became popular in the 19th century, during which Lord Byron gave the name to his daughter Ada, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852), a prominent mathematician and patron of Charles Babbage the inventor of the early mechanical computer. The computer language Ada was later named after her.
2: Ada’s language of origin is Hebrew. Biblical name: In the Old Testament of the Bible, a number of women were named Adah, with various meanings such as ‘ornament’ and ‘brightness’.

Another reason I chose the name Adaline over Hannah was because of the song “Sweet Adeline”. I love Barbershop Quartet music and it’s a pretty song and I thought it would be neat to be able to sing this song to her.

In conclusion (for both posts) Adaline got her name because:
1. Daddy found it in a baby book
2. I liked the “old fashioned” name and the barbershop quartet song about it
3. It’s not too popular and trendy like many similar names
4. It’s not too different and sounds similar to other names that are popular (Addison, Madeline)
5. It has a lovely meaning.
6. The prefix and nickname “Ada” is a Bible name that can also be found in 12 other countries with 13 different beautiful meanings including “firstborn daughter”.
7. It’s perfect 🙂

So, at the risk of now making the name more trendy and popular…don’t you want to name your daughter Adaline as well?! 😉

Does your child’s name have a special meaning?
Tell me in the comments!

Be sure to stop back tomorrow when I’ll be talking about the name of our most mysterious family member…Cool Daddy!

Other “Celebrate Your Name Week” Posts:
+How Muppet got his name
+How Adaline got her name
+The meaning of Adaline’s name and why I spell it wrong