What's In A Name?

Johanna Raye Carswell

It's special to me, but what does it mean? We basically picked it because we like it. I worked with a lady named Johanna a few years back and I fell in love with her name. It's been my favorite girl name ever since. I knew that I if I ever had a daughter, I would have to make her a Johanna. Raye is my maternal grandmother's name. I think it's a great southern name. Chad and I are all about family names. They were great once, so they should be great again. That's the theory. Before we knew about her T18, and before we saw her and knew that she was a girl, we were going to use Caroline or Cole depending. The first time that I saw her, I knew Caroline would not fit. We didn't know anything else about her then, but I knew that Caroline was not the name for this particular special girl. After we knew for sure, and one of the benefits of chromosomal testing is that you can know for 100%, that we were having a girl, we knew she needed a great name. Johanna Raye it is.

We didn't really think much about what the name meant at the time. Well, my obsessive mind had to know. You're gonna love it. I about jumped out of my seat when I read the meaning of her name. Here goes.

Johanna is of Hebrew origin, and is a female derivation of John. Here's the good part. It means ....... Drum roll please. Johanna means "God is Gracious". WOW!!!!!!!!!