Behind the name ☆ V E S N A ☆

Vesna, pronounced VEHS-nah, is an ancient Slavic goddess of Spring, born to bring happiness and luck. ​

They say a name says a lot about a person and when it came to choosing a name for our baby girl, it was an easy choice. We knew we wanted a Bosnian/Balkan name to keep my heritage going and as soon as Jason heard the name "Vesna", it was an instant yes and the story behind the name made it an obvious choice. When I was born, my deda Radiša who is no longer with us, wanted to name me Vesna, My parents chose a more neutral name, Jasna, but he continued to call me Vesna whenever we visited. "Dolazi nam Vesna" he would say. So as a way to honor his memory, we chose the name Vesna, which also has a beautiful meaning. Our goddess of Spring, but born in Summer.

We also tried other Slavic names. I would write them down, pronounce them in Bosnian and then have Jason pronounce them in English which made for a funny exercise. And as someone whose name gets butchered 99.9% of the time, I wanted to spare her the constant struggle of correcting people. Out of all the names, Vesna was also easy to pronounce.

As for nicknames, we are still trying things out, but plan to call her Vesnić, Vesela (meaning happy), Vela (short for Velinka) and of course our forever baby V.

How did you choose your baby's name? I am always curious how other parents go about choosing baby names and the stories behind them.