...clara louise

...We didn't just pick Clara out of a book. You remember my grandfather Charlie? The one that my Charlie is named after? He had a sister named Clara. And she had an aunt named Clara. And that Clara? She had a sister named Louise, my great-grandmother. Did you follow that little trip through my family tree?

Louise was also my middle name before I got married. Ironically, I grew up not liking it, so why not pass it to my daughter? (I think it's lovely now).

Here is the original Clara (center), also pictured with the original Charlie (with the vest in the middle):

Here is my great aunt Clara, far right, pictured with my great-grandmother Louise (who has my grandfather Charlie on her lap) and three of their siblings (there were eight total siblings in my grandfather's family):

I love what my dad wrote on my 365-day blog about my grandfather and his siblings, "Clara was one of your grandfather's seven brothers and sisters. Each one of them had a very different personality but what stands out for me about all of them is that not one of them was 'mean spirited.' You would think that out of 8 there would have been at least one bad apple. They were all wonderful, kind people in their own unique ways."

I always thought of my great aunt Clara as our family's memory keeper because she held our annual family reunions at her home. And you know how I feel about memory keepers.

And here are Louise (center) and my great aunt Clara (far right) pictured together. They look like flappers!

I had other girl names I liked. Molly, Sophie, Maggie, and a few others. But as soon as I saw her, I knew she was Clara and no one else.

Comments

[lisa truesdell]

she is beautiful. love the name + story. perfect.

[heidi]

love.

[Jen]

congrats laura, ken and charlie! clara is beautiful!
(and my middle name is louise too:)

[Brooke]

A beautiful story. I love the memory keeping connection too.

[{vicki}]

loved reading the story of Clara Louise

[melanie]

well, that's just delightful.

[Shelley]

She's just gorgeous. And the story of her name is beautiful. I love when names are picked with thoughts of family past.

[Becky Trump]

Such a great story for this sweet baby girl :) Who btw is so very precious. Love.

[alexandra]

When you posted about Clara being born I commented that my grandmother's name was Clara Amanda. Well guess what her husband's name was... yup, Charlie!!! how fun is that?!?!

My grandparents had 16 kids - my dad is the baby. They were kind, beautiful people too. so cool that you have a fabulous family too.

hugs,
A.
P.S. I have a niece named Julia Clara and one of my twins is Wyatt Paul Charlie :)

[lauren]

i love her name and the back story to it, as well! :)
welcome to the world, sweet clara.
*

[Patricia Roebuck]

Very special that you have the photos and the stories together. I love Clara! She is just beautiful!

[Biddy Kehoe]

WHO is the awesome photographer??? I just love all you B & W pics. So cool to know your family history AND that you are the present guardian of all those memories...

[melanie]

*sigh* just love the meaning behind your sweet girl's name.

thinking of you both today as i finally got to go pick up some yarn! :)

[Nancy]

Wow....she is just precious looking. What a little angel.

[Barb]

LOVE names with stories.
And, again. She is adorable.
So happy for you!

[samantha]

What a beautiful little girl, loved reading her name story here.

[Anita]

Lovely story, and beautiful baby.

[celeste]

absolutely beautiful....your little girl and how she received her name!

[Nancy]

What a nice trip through memory lane for me! My Mom is the girl in the far left corner of the photo with my Uncle Charlie on Grandma Kirk's lap. So nice that all of that is important to you at such a young age; it took me until I was a bit older to be so interested in the family that surrounded me as I grew up.