The Name

Sweet Echo, sweetest Nymph that livst unseen

Within thy airy shell
By slow Meander's margent green,
And in the violet imbroider'd vale
Where the love-lorn Nightingale
Nightly to thee her sad Song mourneth well.
Canst thou not tell me of a gentle Pair
That likest thy Narcissus are?

O if thou have

Hid them in som flowry Cave,
Tell me but where
Sweet Queen of Parly, Daughter of the Sphear,
So maist thou be translated to the skies,
And give resounding grace to all Heavns Harmonies


Sabrina fair
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassie, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of Lillies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair,
Listen for dear honour's sake,
Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen and save.


Listen and appear to us
In name of great Oceanus,
By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace,
And Tethys grave majestick pace,
By hoary Nereus wrincled look,
And the Carpathian wisards hook,
By scaly Tritons winding shell,
And old sooth-saying Glaucus spell,
By Leucothea's lovely hands,
And her son that rules the strands,
By Thetis tinsel-slipper'd feet,
And the Songs of Sirens sweet,
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,
And fair Ligea's golden comb,
Wherwith she sits on diamond rocks
Sleeking her soft alluring locks,
By all the Nymphs that nightly dance
Upon thy streams with wily glance,
Rise, rise, and heave thy rosie head
From thy coral-pav'n bed,
And bridle in thy headlong wave,
Till thou our summons answered have.
Listen and save.


Sabrina rises, attended by water-Nymphes, and sings.

By the rushy-fringed bank,
Where grows the Willow and the Osier dank,
My sliding Chariot stayes,
Thick set with Agat, and the azurn sheen
Of Turkis blew, and Emrauld green
That in the channell strayes,
Whilst from off the waters fleet
Thus I set my printless feet
O're the Cowslips Velvet head,
That bends not as I tread,
Gentle swain at thy request
I am here.

By John Milton

With both of the boys, we've shared on the blog how we came about choosing their name.  Sabrina Fair is a name I have had picked out for my daughter since I was 12 or 13 years old. when I first watched (the new) Sabrina movie.  This is when I first started to fall in love with my man Harrison Ford.  Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn are for sure, amazing, but it was Harrison Ford who captured my heart for the name :)

In the movie, they quote a portion of the John Milton poem and I just loved it!  Also, as most probably already know, my maiden name is Fair so the name just seemed to fit perfectly for my future daughter!  

Once Peter and I started dating and getting serious (which didn't take very long at all) I shared with him that I HAD to name my first daughter Sabrina Fair.  Fortunately that worked out great because he loved the name just as much as I did! With all the baby naming we've done these past 2 years, we've never even taken as much as a glance at the baby girl side of the baby name book. And finally, our 3rd child I got to use the name that I fell in love with almost 15 years ago!

Also, as a final footnote, the English meaning for Sabrina is "princess" and she is, in every way my little princess :)