Elijah

Elijah comes from the Hebrew Eliyahu, meaning 'my God is Yahweh.' In the Old Testament, Elijah the prophet confronted kings, survived the wilderness on bread brought by ravens, and ascended to heaven in a chariot of fire. He is one of only two figures in the Bible taken to heaven without dying. The name traveled from ancient Israel through the Greek Elias into medieval Europe, carried by Puritan settlers who named their sons after prophets.

When you hold your newborn son and try out names in the dark, 'Elijah' is the one that sounds like a full sentence. It has weight to it. Three syllables that land with quiet authority. This is a name for a child you already sense has something fierce inside him, something that won't be talked out of his convictions. You'll hear it called across playgrounds and be startled, for a moment, by how right it sounds.