Jerome didn't have a name until he was born. We had pared down our list to three options, but couldn't decide and were waiting to see what he looked like to us. Jerome was one first name option and Malachi was another. When he was born, Rich asked me what I thought, and I was still torn between the two, so I gave him both. Malaak is the Arabic name with the same root word as Malachi. Jerome comes from the Greek Hieronymus (which we think is a pretty cool nickname) and means Holy Name. Malaak means angel or messenger. The only difference between it and Malachi is that Malachi means My messenger/angel.

So far, this is the only name with nicknames of which we approve, but they are not the nicknames normally given with the name. We like Hieronymus, as I said, and Jeronimo, which is another derivative. We do not like Jerry. We've successfully avoided Alex, Dom and Eli for the other boys, so I think we can avoid Jerry with Jerome. We could live with Alex, should Alexander choose it, but he prefers Alexander. If you call the other boys Dom, Eli or Jerry, you will not receive any of my cooking or knitting until you repent publicly. (edited to note that I don't have a problem with Eli, but see it as a separate name. They were two different people in Scripture, Eli the priest who raised Samuel and Elijah the prophet.)

Dominic is the only one who seems to want a nickname, and we think it stems from wanting a superhero name. He has two: Domino, which we think is cute, and Dominator, which we find irritating. If he ever is involved in sports, Dominator would be a good name, but to just answer to that, is bizarre. Two boys at school started calling him that, though, and he finds it entrancing. We are trying to push Domino if he wants a nickname.