the story behind his name

My sweet granddad passed away at the age of 97. He was loved and adored by practically everyone who met him, including Eric and me! During his funeral, Eric (who is not the sentimental type) leaned over and quietly suggested naming one of our boys after granddad. I was totally floored that he would suggest that because, again, he's not the sentimental type! Since then we always knew that our first born son would be named after Eric, his dad and my granddad!

When I was pregnant with James and we found out he was a boy (which was no surprise to us!) we had no trouble picking his name! Eric's middle name is Wendell, a name passed down from his father, and a name we knew we would pass down to our first born son. My granddad went by "J.W." and it's actually embarrassing to admit just how old I was before I realized that wasn't actually his given name, but the initials of his first and middle name :) ha ha! We knew our baby had to have the same initials and Eric loved talking about the days ahead when he would call his son, "J. dub".
We didn't really have any specific inspiration for the name James, other than the fact that it started with a "J" and we both liked it. After agreeing that "James Wendell" felt pretty perfect, we discovered that James is another Brinkerhoff family name, so that worked out perfectly :) Since James was born, we have discovered that he shares the name with incredible men on both sides of the family! We are so proud to have such a beautiful son to carry on the incredible namesake of so many men that we love!

James Wendell Brinkerhoff (or J.W. ;)), the men that you are named after are/were strong, honest, loyal and loving men, and you are lucky to have them in your life from here to eternity! Follow their examples and you will live a happy, successful life filled with love! We love you, sweet boy!