A word about Anna’s name. Anna is mostly just a name we liked, although it does have some family ties. Catherine is for my grandmother (my mom’s mom) who turned 80 the day Anna was born. Depending on which baby name dictionary you consult, Anna means “joy” or “gracious”, and Catherine pretty much universally means “pure”.
And since I never did write about how we chose Carolyn’s name, I’ll do that now too! Carolyn is also a name we liked, as well as being sort of a combination of my parents’ names, Carl and Karen, and my godmother’s name, Linda. Sylvia is Denis’ mother’s name. Carolyn means (again, depending on which dictionary) “song of joy” and Sylvia means “forest”.