The names

From left to right as you view the photo, we have
Baby A: Michael Edward Gobbett
Baby B: Tighe John Gobbett
Baby C: Cian Bernard Gobbett




I think some of you thought we were deliberately showboating and creating some suspense in the last couple of days by not immediately announcing the names, but we really wanted to look at the three lads and just get a good feel for the names before finalizing them. And actually there were some late changes. There is a bit of a story behind each name. So here goes...

Michael Edward Gobbett: Where to start with this. Two days ago Michael actually wasn't on our list. Gigi really liked the name and mentioned it multiple times over the months, but I didn't really want to use it. Yesterday, when we were trying to finalize one of the middle names Gigi suggested Michael again. While I was at the cafeteria alone for lunch I was thinking a lot about it and I came back and told Gigi I thought Baby A was in fact Michael and it should be the first name. That took her by surprise. Now, let's go back 30+ years to Kilnamanagh, Dublin when we were kids growing up. Dolores (my Mam) carried Michael Gobbett for over 5 months before having a very late miscarriage. Michael was buried in a tiny white coffin in The Little Angels section of Glasnevin Cemetry. Mam often mentioned him over the years. Now, skip forward 30 years again. Late last night we were still considering Michael as Baby A after my change of heart yesterday and decided to sleep on it. At around 6am this morning I went down to the nursery to check on the boys and there was a lovely elderly lady I'd never seen before holding Baby A. She is what they call a "volunteer cuddler". They are local ladies who love kids and come by to cuddle them at times their Mams can't be there. I asked her what her name was. "Dolores" she said. "Ah, that's a coincidence, my Mam is also Dolores" I replied not thinking too much about it. When I came back to the room this morning I told Gigi about her. I was kind of testing the name Michael out too, so I said to Gigi "A lovely old lady named Dolores was holding Michael." Gigi replied "Dolores holding Michael, well, if that isn't a sign that his name should be Michael I don't know what is." So Michael it is. We decided give him the middle name Edward after his Grandad back in Dublin.

Tighe John Gobbett: Pronounced just like Tiger but without the R. Gigi was very keen to give all three boys Irish names. So we searched through many Irish names and Gigi really locked onto this one. It's an ancient old name and the only Tighes I knew back home were from either Cork or Kerry (normally spelled Tadhg). I know some people will think the name was chosen because I like golf and it sounds like Tiger Woods, but that couldn't be further from the truth. If I really wanted to call one of them after a favorite golfer then his name would be Seve. Anyway, up until today at lunch time we still didn't have a middle name for Tighe. So again, off I went to the Cafeteria alone and had a little think to myself. I didn't have any connection to Cork or Kerry where I think the name is most prevalent, but it suddenly dawned on me that Gigi did. Mam and my sister Christina did a lot of investigation back home into Gigi's ancestors and they found that John and Ellen O'Connell, Gigi's Great Great Grandparents, left Cobh harbor in County Cork and set sail on the ship The Bank Stella in 1849 (during the Irish Famine). They landed in Boston and headed across country to San Francisco shortly thereafter. So John was someone that connected Gigi back to Cork (the area I associate the name with) and connects her family back to Ireland. In addition, my brother John was the Best Man at our wedding and he's a very cool lad altogether, so I thought it'd be nice to use the name.

Cian Bernard Gobbett: Pronounced just like the name Ian but with a C or K in front. Kinda like Kee-ahn. Again, this was one of the Irish names that Gigi really locked onto. It's a name that has regained popularity in Ireland in recent years. And I have a very tenuous connection to it :-) So here goes. Cian was the son-in-law of Brian Boru, the great Irish King who defeated the Vikings and booted them out of Ireland back in the early 11th century. Now, fast forward about 975 years. In my class of 94 students in college, there just happened to be seven Brian/Bryans. One night, after a few pints of Guinness, I apparently claimed to be an ancestor of the great Brian Boru (and I may well be). So, the lads in college decided I was going to go by the name "Boru" from that point on as they needed to distinguish between the seven Bryans. And indeed, Boru was all I was called for many years. So, I decided with such a connection, I needed one of my sons to be Cian. We decided to give him the middle name Bernard after Gigi's Dad.

And so the names were chosen...