The Origins of Ella

When Ella was born, Meg and I found ourselves quickly playing a typical new parent game called “Who Does She Look Like Most?” The general consensus was that she looked a little more like me, but with some strong Megan influences. Having her resemble me is quite amazing, because Ella is super cute. Luckily, she appears to be only reflecting my best features before they had been mercilessly ravished by the evil sands of time.

Shortly after we brought Ella home, my parents brought over some pictures of me as a baby, and sure enough, the resemblance was uncanny. It easily could have been an old fashioned picture of Ella. We stuck to this notion that she mainly looked like me as a baby for several weeks, until Megan’s mom brought over photos of Meg as a baby. Now it’s plain to see that she is a mixture of the two of us. This makes me extremely happy, because Megan is cuter than me, and she’s the right gender too.

All this talk of playing games has surely got you antsy, so here’s a game you can play. Who is who in the photos below? Enjoy.

P.S. For those of you also playing the "Who's She Named After Game," I'm happy to provide you with some information. We chose Ella because we thought it was pretty, unique and classic, akin to Ella Fitzgerald. Margaret is a long time family name going back four generations: Megan is a derivative of Margaret; Megan’s mom (Peggy) is officially Margaret Ann; Peggy’s mom was Dorothy Margaret; and her mom was Margaret Dorothy.

Interestingly enough, we were to find out later that Ella is a family name as well. Megan’s grandmother’s aunt was Ella Josephine, but everyone knew her by Josephine. Ella’s nickname ‘Ellie’ is also a family name, as it’s currently being used by Megan’s great aunt Eleanor. Oh, and Klein is a family name on my side. My father is also a Klein, as was his father, as was his father...