About your name

Dearest Ruthie,

I want to tell you about your name, Ruth Tara. Your first name is based on family heritage, and your middle name is because of your mom's whimsy. We decided on your name when we were on our two-year bicycle trip around Asia. We discussed baby names a lot as a way to kill time, and we each had certain criteria. Your dad wanted first names that were only one syllable. Both of us wanted to use family names. Finally, we didn't want anything too complicated or difficult to spell or pronounce, which was a restriction on me and my hankering for Hindu names as middle names. With Ruth Tara, we found something that matched both mine and your dad's criteria for a good name.

First, your first name. Two of your grandmas are named Ruth - your Oma Ruth and your Great-Grandma Margaret Ruth Barkley.

First about your Oma Ruth. She is a selfless, thoughtful, generous woman, but you will come to experience this for yourself as you grow up. She is named after a bunch of Ruths on both sides of her family.

You and your Oma Ruth when you were one day old.

Here is your Oma's explanation of the Ruths she is named after, when they were born and where they lived:

How honored and delighted I am that your parents decided to bestow my name on you. I thought that you might like to know a bit of history about our name. My full name is Ruth Kathleen Harrower Arnold. I was named after two of my aunts one being Ruth Marie Harrower who was the youngest sister of my father, James King Harrower. The other aunt was the youngest sister of my mother Alice Elizabeth Morrow Harrower. Her name was Ruth Esther Morrow Boardman. She was named after Ruth Garst who was a sister to my grandfather, George W. Morrow.     

            These people lived a long time ago. Harrower was my maiden name. The Harrower side of the family came from Scotland in the early 1900s. My Father, your great grandfather, James King Harrower, was the oldest of nine children! He was born July 13, 1905 near Trinidad, Colorado. Shortly after he was born his parents moved to Diamondville, Wyoming where my Grandfather, Robert Harrower, worked in the coalmines. Ruth Marie, his sister, must have been born in the 1920s; she died when she was 13 from a condition called peritonitis, caused by a ruptured appendix. In those days it was much more difficult to diagnose what was wrong with people than it is today. 

            My Mother, Alice, was born in Rockport, Missouri on October 2, 1905. She was the oldest of seven children! Her family, the Morrows, came west to Denver where my Grandfather, George, worked for a time helping develop what later became the “yellow pages” in phone books. They were not in Denver long before they decided to move to Wyoming to homestead. They lived for a time north of Worland, Wyoming in the Big Horn Basin. After several years of farming there, my Grandfather decided to move and try dry land farming near where his sister, Ruth Garst, and her husband had homesteaded near Rocky Point, Wyoming. Ruth Esther, my mother's sister and the 6^th child, was born during this time, in 1921, in Newcastle, Wyoming. She grew up and married Gerald Boardman, they had two children, my cousins, Susan & Jim. She lived to be in her sixties when she succumbed to an asthma attack. 

            Now we have you, a new little Ruthie, which is what I was called when I was little.  Our families have grown smaller through the generations.  I was the youngest of four children.  Your Mother just has one brother, your Uncle Grady.   Your parents have started you out to be able to lead a very healthy, happy life.  I hope it is a long one, filled with many adventures, much happiness and --- if your parents have any more children --- that you will be the wise older sister, just like your Mother!!


Lovingly,
Oma


Ruth is also your Great-Grandma Barkley's middle name. She is your Grandpa Jim Barkley's mom. She lives in Alpena, Arkansas, and your dad spent many a happy summer living with his grandparents in Arkansas and exploring the woods around their home. Your Great-Grandma is almost 80, but is still full of vibrancy and love. She made you many little dresses by hand, and although she hasn't met you, writes often to say how much she loves you. You are her 11th great-granddaughter, and 15th great-grandchild. She is a lovely, loving, generous woman who adores your dad, and so by association adores you too. I hope you get to meet her someday.

Your dad with your great-grandma Margaret Ruth Barkley.

Of course there is also the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible, but us naming you Ruth doesn't have anything to do with that.

Your middle name, Tara, references a number of things. Tara is the name of a goddess in many areas of the world, but I was thinking primarily of the Buddhist/Hindu goddess Tara when I picked your middle name. I wanted an Asian deity represented in your name because I liked the exoticism, belief systems and that's where we were when we were discussing names. We saw the Buddhist Green Tara likenesses often in Mongolia. Green Tara is the Buddha of compassion and action (Wikipedia tells me). Tara in Hinduism is one of ten Great Wisdom Goddesses. The Buddhist and Hindu Taras may have their roots in the same goddess, and were adopted across religions, but scholars don't know for sure.

They may even be related to other Tara goddesses in Eurasia. The Celts named their mother goddess Tara, and the Romans have terra, both earth and worshipped as Mother Earth. My cousin Ted notes that Tara is the goddess of fertility in the Canary Islands, where he lives. Tara is a sea goddess in Polynesia. Maybe all these Taras are related, maybe it's just coincidence. You are named after all of them, which I like thinking gives you a connection to the whole world. Maybe someday you will want to go out and explore it.

Finally, we chose it as a name because, aside from its significance, it was still simple and familiar in our culture too.

That is why we picked your names and what they mean to us.

Love,
Mom