My wonderful grandfather, Kenneth Daniel Bourgeois, died April, 2010. I was about 2 months pregnant. It wasn't a big surprise when he passed away because he had been in the ICU 3 weeks prior but it still broke my heart. All I could think about was how my grandfather wasn't going to meet his 1st great grandson.
My grandfather and I shared a birthday and I always loved it. I was born on his birthday and named his favorite name which happened to be his grandmother's name, Abigail. We always had a great bond.
While we were in Slidell LA for the funeral, I pulled out Mimi and Papa's picture albums from her guest room closet. I loved looking through them. All the pictures of my sister, brother and I growing up and hanging out at their house in Slidell, our old house in Houston and our house on Allston. It is so weird looking at old pictures. They bring back memories or just remind you that you used to be younger. I also pulled down an album of Papa's family, you know where the pictures look sterile, black and white and they don't smile. They showed a family tree going way back and I saw the last name Keaton and thought it was a good strong name. This was also the lineage of my great great grandmother Abigail who I was named after.
Before I even got pregnant, I had always liked Mimi's maiden name Turner. It would be unique as a first name. My thoughts were that it could honor Mimi as well as her brother, my great uncle Johnny.
On our long drive back to Austin from Slidell, names were running through my head, girl and boy. I combined the names Turner Keaton. I kept thinking we could officially name him that then nickname him something like TK or Teke. Well, once we got home, I sad down and wrote out some names that I thought about including the above and left it alone.
Then the fateful day came and went when we found out about our baby boy's Spina Bifida and we decided that we needed to go ahead and name him. So I pulled out the list (it was on my computer and I had been adding to it) and started reading off the names I had. There were all kinds on there. I come to the name Teke and read it out. Chad stops and smiles and says he likes that. You can tell he is thinking about it. I rush to explain that it came out of the full name Turner Keaton and was intended to be a nickname.
After trying to persuade him towards my family names, we come to a decision. He isn't a fan of Keaton and we realize that Turner Head doesn't sound the best so we settle on Teak and decide to spell it like the wood. We look up the meaning of Teak and read about the tree that Teak wood comes from and are truly convinced this is our son's name.
The trees that Teak wood comes from grow very tall and are very strong durable trees similar to the wood. They make sap that helps fight off diseases. Teak wood is used to make outdoor furniture as well as fancy boats. It seems to be able to withstand all weather. What a great name to use for a strong boy. His middle name Joseph is Chad's middle name which came from his biological grandfather's name. Joseph in the book of Genesis also overcame great obstacles.
Now, looking at Teak I couldn't imagine his name being anything else. He is Teak Joseph Head and one day he will change the world.
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