What's in a name?

Our son is to be called Noah Reagan.

Noah meaning 'peaceful'
Reagan meaning 'little king'

In the Bible, the story of Noah begins in Genesis chapter 5.  The lineage of Adam & Eve is told in chapter 5.  It's not a really interesting chapter.  There are 32 verses and most read like this "and xxxx begat a son and he was called xxx, and he lived for xxx # of years.  Then he had other sons and daughters" so on, and so forth.  But then, in verse 28 we read this :
 ²⁸And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:
 ²⁹And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
 ³⁰And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:
 ³¹And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
 ³²And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

You know there will be something special about Noah, before you even get to the story of the flood.  Before you even read about him...because out of 32 verses, he got one extra verse all to himself...and it detailed the meaning of his name.  Now, while I do not believe that the Lord cursed Matt or myself, I do take to heart the first portion... This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands.  We worked hard (meaning we were faithful, we prayed, we did all the Lord asked of us) to get the privilege of being Noah's parents.  We were blessed for our obedience.  That portion I do believe.

Then, in Genesis chapter 6 we learn more about Noah, and in fact the reason I loved the name so much was because the very first sentence about Noah reads like this : "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." Gen 6:8-9.  Oh, this is the cry of my heart for my boy.  May be find grace in the eyes of the Lord, and may he be a just man, a righteous man, who walks with God. 

And, Reagan, was chosen after the late, Ronald Reagan.  The Great Communicator had an uncanny skill to rally America and hoist her up when she was in need of a confidence boost. His legacy has taken a major dose of criticism over the past decade but his image has benefited from the current wave of Republican support.

Ronald Reagan had what no other President since John F. Kennedy and nobody who has held the office since the completion of his second term had: cult of personality. For better or worse, Reagan was one of the most dominant men of the past century. He was the Great Communicator, the Gipper and the leader of the Reagan Revolution.

In an era of collective mistrust of the political system and the people who ran it, Reagan swept to power with an unprecedented share of the electoral vote in 1980. His famous pledge to restore confidence in America and the government became the mission statement of his administration.

With another sweep to power in 1984, Reagan became the most popular political leader in the history of America. His mandate from the people was a formidable trump card to exercise his will and authority on national and foreign policy.