Why "Nolan?"

Some of you may be wondering how we came to decide on the name "Nolan." Neither of us have personally met someone named Nolan. I am most familiar with the name from the Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan. I tossed out the name to Lindsey and was almost surprised to hear he say she liked it.

Selecting a name proved to be difficult given Lindsey's previous jobs working with special needs kids. It was not uncommon for me to suggest a name and have Lindsey say "Um, I like it, but I worked with a kid with that name and he bit/scratched/hit me." Nolan was unique enough that Lindsey had not worked with any boys by that name, so it wasn't tainted. We liked that the name is unique but not weird or awkwardly spelled. And we couldn't think of any negative nicknames associated with it.

Nolan is an Irish name meaning "noble." When combined with the middle name Christopher (which is also my middle name), he name means "Noble bearer of Christ." Sounds cool to us!