Deerfield Beach, Florida, USA
Hi Everyone! My name is Ciera. I am a mother of 2 little ones, Demi & Durban, with baby number 3 on the way! I am a work from home mom, small biz owner & wife to an
incredible father & husband, Quinton.
From the time I was a little girl I knew I wanted to grow up to be a mama & I can honestly say that it has been God’s greatest gift to me. I love homeschooling our children, traveling with the family, riding our e-bikes down to the local beach, playing pickle-ball with my hubby &
growing our small business.
my name journey stories -
Demi Ray.
I was 20 weeks pregnant when we found out that our new baby was going to be a little girl. We spent the first 3 months of my pregnancy traveling across the US in our van that we made into a little home on wheels. This time away from “reality” was the perfect time for us to go through name after name. We made a list & I would write the names down to pair them with our last name. Although, I always knew the name was Demi. I just had to get over the fact that it was also the name of my family dog (that was still alive) & living with my parents at the time. I named Demi (the dog) when I was in high school knowing that one day I would love to have a daughter named Demi. I just really didn't think how fast time flies until there I was– pregnant with a little girl, my Demi. As you can imagine, when we started to tell people we loved the name Demi we got a TON of people telling us we just couldn't name our child the same name as a dog. HA! There were also a handful that said “who cares, use the name you love”
& for those people, I am thankful.
We went with Demi. We were not going to give her a middle name. It was going to be Demi Gower-Winter. Until the day she was born, it was a sad day in our town. There had been a mass shooting & it was a tragic day for the community. On the day I was given my baby, there were parents that had just lost theirs. It shook me. I decided to give her the middle name Ray, she was a Ray of Sunshine on a very sad day. To this day Demi Ray is still our Ray of Sunshine, lighting up the hearts of everyone she meets. Demi has the sweetest soul and most kind little heart. An incredible little human.
Durban Quinton
I don’t remember how far along I was in my pregnancy but I think I was around halfway when I started to get serious about finding a name for our son. I was sitting on the couch looking through boy names & texting them back & forth with a friend.
I spotted a name on the name nest (not sharing because we may use it) that I loved and I wrote it down along with our last name. I liked it, alot. I was waiting for my husband to come home from a surf & I was going to ask him his thoughts.
When he walked in the door, before I could say anything, he said “I have the name”. I was SHOCKED. He didn’t have many opinions on names for our daughter & I was surprised when he was so sure of the name he had thought of. He said he was sitting in the lineup waiting for a wave and it just came to him. Durban.
It was the name of the beach town in South Africa that he grew up surfing in. We got engaged in Durban three years prior. Demi & Durban. I said it out loud and it was one of those names that I just knew was the one. OF COURSE! WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT! It was meaningful. It was perfect! We both knew that was the name and we honestly never looked back. We kept the name secret until our son was born & it was really special telling our family from South Africa that we chose the name Durban. Durban got his middle name from his daddy, Quinton.
names I loved and did not use -
We also loved Kira for a girl & D’Artagnon for a boy. We have a few other names from The Name Nest that we love & may use for the baby that’s on the way!
how I found the name nest -
I was first introduced to the name nest when my best friend saw the name Demi. She was always supportive of us naming our daughter Demi & she shared the IG page with me. I loved seeing the name written out in such a beautiful way and I often looked through the name nest names while I was pregnant with both of my babies. I would also send names that I loved to my husband & here I am with baby 3 on the way & still doing the same thing!
my advice for mothers who are on their own naming journey
Don’t listen too much to others opinions on the names you love. We had quite a bit of negative feedback about naming our child the same name as our dog. We ended up ignoring most of the negativity and went with the name we loved. When we had Durban we decided to keep the name a secret. By that point we didn't care for what people thought and we knew that was
the name for our son.
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to follow Ciera's story and to find out more about her, you can find her on Instagram @gypsy_2
I hope you enjoyed reading Ciera's name journey's and I can not wait to bring you more stories, from women around the world in this new journal series 'behind the name'.