Wait, you named your daughter what?

My motivation in writing this post is to answer that burning question that I have been asked so often, what is your daughter's name and why on earth did you name her that?

My daughter's name is Ksenia, pronounced X(hard x sound, like in box) en-ya. I know it is unique. Upon telling people her name I have had most every reaction from "Oh that is beautiful" to "Wow, that is.... unique.". One lady actually apologized to my daughter telling her how sorry she was that she had that name. But the most common response is "Why did you name your daughter that?". So here is my explanation for this "crazy" name we gave her.

First, my name is Jessica. Jessica in 1985 just happened to be the #1 name for girls. It held that #1 position for most of the 80s. That meant that every class I ever had from kindergarten to college there was at least one other Jessica or Jessie. In one class there were actually six Jessies and Jessicas. I hated it. Because of this I always swore that I would not give my kid a really common name. Second, when you are baptized in the Orthodox church you take the name of a saint or feast of the church as your "baptized name". Often parents will name their children what they want them to be baptized as, though not always. Robert and I both agreed that we wanted to name our children what we plan on them being baptized as. That being the case we have limited our name options to those of the saints. We had originally chosen to name our first daughter Elena (after Saint Helen) because we both love that name but circumstances changed our minds.

St. Xenia of St. Petersberg Russia lived in the 18th and was considered a "fool for Christ". She lived her life in such a manner that seemed foolish to the world around her but was done purposefully so that she was not praised for the acts of kindness and mercy she preformed. Her life can be found here: http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=100297

As an Orthodox Christian we believe that the saints are "alive in Christ" in heaven and intercede for all of us in prayer to God continually. It is a common practice to ask a specific saint to pray for you as you would ask a friend for prayer. Certain saints are known for helping in specific areas because of their lives or miracles preformed in the past. St. Xenia is often asked for help in find work and housing. The past four years we have asked for her intercession often for both of those things and with her intercessions we have seen God provide for us in ways we would have never expected! Because of the impact her life has had on us as well as her prayers for us, Robert and I both felt strongly that we wanted to name our first daughter after her to honor her.

Ksenia is the Greek spelling of the name Xenia. We chose to spell it in the Greek style partly because we like how it looks better and because we wanted to avoid people called her "Xena" or "Zeen-ya". I am well aware of the fact that she will always have to explain her name to people but I see that as well worth it to bare the name of such a beautiful saint.