The Story Behind Rylan's Name

Rylan Jack

When we found out that our third baby was another boy, we gave up on ever having a girl named Micah and decided it was time to name a boy after Michael. I was driving from Silver Spring to Philly one day and kept passing signs for a building company called Ryland Homes. Michael's middle name is Ryan, and I thought, "Ryland would make a very cute name." We dropped the "d" at the end to make it more like Ryan.

I totally thought I was making up a name, but in the past three years, I've met three other boys named Rylan. Other things I regret about Rylan's name: people always assume there's a "d" at the end, and Southerners always think I'm saying Rylynn, as in a girl's name. The pink boots don't help.

His middle name is after my Grandpa Alley who died the year he was born. We decided to go with a more common middle name in case he grows up and decides he hates his weird first name.