Judy, <a href="http://www.goodyblog.com/playing_house/2007/05/im_it.html">of GoodyBlog fame</a>, tagged me (like a million years ago) with the following:
<blockquote><strong>Give the meaning of your kids’ names, and write about what or
how or why you gave the name to your kids. </strong></blockquote>
Even a lazy blogger like me can handle that, since I've already told the internet everything there is to know about<a href="http://www.everydaytreats.com/2007/03/the-name-game.html"> how we went about naming our first child</a>, Sebastian.  I've been meaning to tell you all about Benjamin's name and this is a great excuse to do it.

One thing I left out in the earlier post, and which is really the common thread between our children's names is that we're Catholic.  My husband's family is pretty traditional when it comes to names - and if you're Catholic that means that you choose saint's names for your children.  My family is not strict about this at all - my name is the Persian word for dawn, we are not Persian and there are no saints named Roxanna.  They just liked the name, I think.  But since there are about 3 million saints names to choose from and most of them have colorful stories, I was happy to continue my husband's family tradition.  It's actually pretty hard to find a name that isn't covered in <a href="http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/patron02.htm">this list</a>.

St. Sebastian is a pretty famous saint - he's the one depicted tied up to a tree, his upper body pierced with arrows.  The martyrdom of St. Sebastian has been, and continues to be a favorite topic for artists from <a href="http://bode.diee.unica.it/~giua/SEBASTIAN/">Rubens to REM</a>.  You can think of him as a rockstar - as far as religious figures go.  He represents physical and mental endurance, even in the face of extreme adversity.

<a href="http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=338">St. Benjamin</a> is lesser known - but he stands for speaking your mind and standing up for what you believe in - and that's pretty awesome in my book.  It also doesn't hurt that one of the most famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin">Benjamin</a>s ever was "a leading author, political theorist, politician, printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, and diplomat" and was a native Bostonian to boot.

That's a lot to live up to, but we'll have to wait a few years before we find out if they'll live up to their names.  For now, they're busy being babies and that's busy enough for me.