Niccole with 2 c's

Her name is Niccole Michelle. I gave her that name myself. Her dad, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother all had other ideas about what her name should be, but I made the final decision and I chose the name Niccole.

Niccole with 2 c’s. Those 2 c’s were very intentional.

When Niccole was living in Australia, she wrote to me asking why I spelled her name with 2 c’s. That question is still to this day my very favorite question that anyone has ever asked me! I was really happy to share my answer with her.

After giving birth, (in those days, we couldn’t take our babies home from the hospital for three days!) I practiced writing her name over and over. I printed it, and I wrote it in cursive, and I tried out different spellings. I tried saying it out loud, and I whispered it softly during the night.

I wanted her name to be beautiful and lovely… not cutsie, and definitely not stuffy. I thought it should be gracious and feminine. She was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen, and her name had to be as sweet as she was.

I wanted it to be different, too – not like every other little girl’s on the block. I wanted it to be unique. Special. It had to be an important gift from me to her.

Today, whenever I write her name, or type it, or say it out loud, or think it in my mind, or cherish it in my heart, I remember the day I gave her those 2 c’s. I remember kissing her little cheek and calling her “Niccole” for the first time. I remember telling her how much I loved her, and how happy I was that she was finally there with me. I remember writing her name on the paperwork for the birth certificate: Niccole Michelle.

And I remember being so happy that I thought my heart would explode.