<p>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:</p><blockquote><p><strong>Give the meaning of your kids’ names, and write about what or
how or why you gave the name to your kids. </strong></p></blockquote><p>Even a lazy blogger like me can handle that, since I&#39;ve already told the internet everything there is to know about <a href="http://diary.blogs.com/the_diary_of_a_reluctant_/2007/03/the_name_game.html">how we went about naming our first child</a>, Sebastian.&#0160; I&#39;ve been meaning to tell you all about Benjamin&#39;s name and this is a great excuse to do it.</p>

<p>One thing I left out in the earlier post, and which is really the common thread between our children&#39;s names is that we&#39;re Catholic.&#0160; My husband&#39;s family is pretty traditional when it comes to names - and if you&#39;re Catholic that means that you choose saint&#39;s names for your children.&#0160; 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.&#0160; They just liked the name, I think.&#0160; 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&#39;s family tradition.&#0160; It&#39;s actually pretty hard to find a name that isn&#39;t covered in <a href="http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/patron02.htm">this list</a>.</p>

<p>St. Sebastian is a pretty famous saint - he&#39;s the one depicted tied up to a tree, his upper body pierced with arrows.&#0160; 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>.&#0160; You can think of him as a rockstar - as far as religious figures go.&#0160; He represents physical and mental endurance, even in the face of extreme adversity.</p>

<p><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&#39;s pretty awesome in my book.&#0160; It also doesn&#39;t hurt that one of the most famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin">Benjamin</a>s ever was &quot;a leading author, political theorist, politician, printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, and diplomat&quot; and was a native Bostonian to boot.&#0160; </p>

<p>That&#39;s a lot to live up to, but we&#39;ll have to wait a few years before we find out if they&#39;ll live up to their names.&#0160; For now, they&#39;re busy being babies and that&#39;s busy enough for me.</p>
