What's in a Name?

I know there are a lot of people wondering or debating how Trajan is pronounced. Here's a link for the correct pronunciation:  http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/Trajan.

Here's the story how Tyler and I decided on our name. Tyler is a history major and I have an emphasis in art history. So naturally we decided to look back at history to find a name. We both took a Roman history class in the same year and thought it would be cool to find a name from Rome. Originally I really wanted Augustus. I love Augustan art and even though it was propaganda, it also showed power. However, Tyler thought people would only think about Charlie & The Chocolate Factory and people would call him Augustus Gloop. So that was definite no go. Eventually one of us stumbled upon Trajan. To this day we still debate who actually stumbled upon the name Trajan. Tyler swears it was him (and he's right!) but I (wrongly) think the same.  We wanted a good emperor. Someone our son could look up to. I also wanted power because who doesn't want their child to be a leader? Luckily for us Trajan is considered one of the five good emperors of Rome.

The reasons are as follow:
1. Tyler studies History and I study art history so it was a unique name that reflected a common area of interest.

2. We really just liked the way the name sounded. I liked Augustus more for the powerful name, Tyler wanted a name that sounded cool, Trajan met both of those requirements.

3. When Trajan was selected to be emperor, he was busy in the battle field and told the senate they had to wait because he had business to finish up first. Showing his priorities were in line.

4. Trajan created cities for retired military personnel. If a person retired from the military, they were given land to build a home.

5. He created market places for the people of Rome.

6. Oversaw the greatest territorial expansion of Rome.

7. Merciful Ruler.

8. Pretty much created Roman social security.

9. He was a commoner and rose to become emperor.

In a nutshell, he put Rome before himself. He was philanthropic, but yet still powerful. The qualities he possessed are ones we want our son to look up to. Thankfully we found the name super early in my pregnancy because let's be for real, we could debate about names for a long time.

(Plus if our son gets Tyler's nose, he resembles Trajan even more!) 

While writing this, Tyler read through it and we debated about who found the name Trajan. He SWEARS it was him, but I KNOW it was me. Just so you all know, it was Miranda who found the name Trajan. Tyler will say I had pregnancy brain, but he has daddy brain now.