Etymology

In the weeks and months before Lars was born, we had formed quite the list of possible names for our child. It wasn't until the end of July when we finally made an actual list of possible boys and girls names. After that, we weren't allowed to add any more names (unless they were awesome), only take names off. We finally whittled our list down so that by the time we were on the way to the hospital, we had two boy's names and two girl's names. Once the baby was born, we would pick from two names, depending on what we were feeling the baby looked like (for those of you who need to know the gender and name ahead of time, this must just be killing you!).

Anyway, once the baby was born, we only had to pick from our two boy's names, and seeing that blond hair, we thought he looked more like a Lars (perhaps the other name will be used for a future son).

When we were thinking of names, we mainly stuck to three categories: classic/old fashioned names, family names, and global names (particular Scandinavian names). If a name was on the top 10 list of names for the past ten years, we weren't likely to consider it (unless it was awesome).

Anyway, we liked the simplicity of the name Lars, how it is a strong Scandinavian name, and its uniqueness (yet familiarity...most people have at least heard of the name Lars). We just liked it (and yes, both of us have people in our family tree named Lars, but that wasn't why we picked it). We thought it paired well with Michael, after my dad.

Coincidentally, Lars means the same as Laura. Laura is the feminine form of Laurence, and Lars is the Scandinavian form of Laurence (or is it Lawrence?). All are Latin for "a crown of laurel leaves"...the kind that old olympic victors wore. Also, Steve's name means "a crown, a garland;" so we are a family of crowns :)

Michael means "Who is like God?" which one source says is a rhetorical question, expecting a negative answer, that no one is like God. Michael is a symbol of humility before God.

For each of the names on our list, I went through and tried to find Scripture that paired with the meaning of the name (ambitious, I know...nesting looks different for everyone ;), and the verse we had for Lars is:
Proverbs 4:8-9, “If you prize wisdom, she will make you great. Embrace her, and she will honor you. She will place a lovely wreath on your head; she will present you with a beautiful crown.”

So there you have it. Ultimately, Lars is a name we liked, and Michael is one of the middle names we had picked out that went with it (all the middle names we had were after family members). But we would also hope that someday Lars would be wise and humble, like his name suggests :)

The first thing we both saw of our son was all this blond hair! Lars just seemed to fit.