Charley Ryan Nichols

So I decided to give everyone a little insight as to why we chose Charley Ryan for the name of our son.  Some people just like names and they go with it.  Some people however put some thought into it.  You see... Shauna and I had a list of names for both boys and girls, that we made in California a few years back.  The funny thing is, we were so set on the names, and the order in which we would use them, but neither Charley or Ryan were on that list!

To side track for a brief moment...  growing up I never really liked my name. (Ryan) Everyone I know said I was a perfect Ryan.  I hated that.  I only realized in the past couple of years what a name can really mean to someone.  Me not liking my name is an insult to my Mom and Dad.  They named me Ryan for a reason.  They gave me my middle name of James for a reason.  No matter their reason, it's the name they gave me.  I can honestly say I love my name now and I respect the process of how they might have gotten to my name.

Okay... little bit more side information...  For those who read this and do not know, I am the only male to carry on my last name. (Nichols)  As I mentioned in the last paragraph, I have only recently learned to love and honor my name.  I am proud to be a Nichols and am proud to be able to pass that name on.  So moving on...

Charley Ryan is named so for a few reasons...  Charley comes from both of his Grandfathers.  Both Shaunas and my fathers first name is Charles.  Since I was the only male to carry on the name, I wanted to make sure that if I had a son and he ended up being the only boy Shauna and I have, that he had a good strong and honorable name.  We also went with Charley because we were wanting to eliminate any confusion as to what to call our son.  Now I would understand if we named him Charles and you might ask what we will be calling him, but we thought of all the names that could come from Charles and we really love the name Charley.  We chose a sub name or nickname from Charles so that no one would call him anything but Charley.  So no: Chuck, Chucky, little Chuck, or any other name you can come up with for Charles will be used.

Ryan for the middle name was not our first pick, after a lot of thought and asking around we decided to choose the name Ryan.  Ryan was chosen in part because Charley's first name came from the first name of his Grandfathers.  It was also chosen because Shauna was intent on having part of my name a part of our sons name one way or the other, and I recently came to appreciate my name.

So in a short story long, that is why and how Charley Ryan got his name!!!