Where did that name come from?!
That’s the $1,000,000 question in the house – here and in Kyrgyzstan, Olga’s mother country. In both countries, it was widely circulated that the new baby was named Katherine. Let’s just be clear, that when I post that name in parentheses, there was a question mark there also, to indicate its non-confirmed status.
When I arrived in DC, I was informed that the names had been whittled down to just three: Katherine, Andrea, and Jennifer.
Andrea was on the list to honor Olga’s grandfather who was named Andre, but it was later decided that Andre could be saved for a future possible brother and that it wouldn’t be right to have an Andrea and an Andre (even though we recently met a woman with quadruplets named Christian, Christina, Christopher, and ChristiAnn – no, really).
Katherine Lee got some flack because it would inevitably degrade to Kathy Lee (as in Regis).
And Jennifer, I don’t know what anybody said about Jennifer,
but when the baby was born, all those names flew out the window, because somehow, as pretty as those names were, they somehow did not match the baby’s prettiness.
So, after much sleep-deprived discussion post birth, a new name was decided:
Alina, which is a popular Russian name, to honor her Kyrgyz heritage. (This little one will grow up speaking Russian like her mother.)
Nari was my father’s suggestion and means both “lily” and “your highness” in Korean. (My sister’s youngest has the nickname “Leela wha dee” which means frangipani flower in Thai and both Bella and I have the middle name “Rose,” so flower names run in the family.)
Lee – THE FIRST GRANDCHILD TO BEAR THE LAST NAME “LEE”!!
Alina Nari Lee on her first day this side of the womb.