Origin of Reed's middle name

A couple people have asked how we came up with the name Warren for Reed's middle name, so I thought I'd write about it. My dad's father's name was Warren Grinnell, and when I was considering middle names for Reed it was my favorite for that reason. I also grew up on Warren Road in Ithaca, which Auntie Alexis pointed out to me, and I happen now to work on S. Warren Street in Syracuse, which actually only occurred to me at this moment. However after having floated a couple middle name possibilities to Jeff in the month or two before Reed was born, and having had those possibilities shot down pretty summarily, I was pretty confident that Jeff would not like Warren either, and I had not even broached the name to him. Then when we were about to be released from the hospital, earlier than either of us had previously imagined, I felt pressure to decide on a name (or no middle name, also a legitimate possibility to me) before we were discharged so that the birth certificate lady would get off our backs. So Jeff went home to install the car seat and I told him he had to think of a middle name while he was gone. He returned and said, kind of timidly, how about Warren? I about jumped out of my bed, since it was the only contender in my mind and yet I thought Jeff would hate it, so I hadn't even brought it up. He really admires Elizabeth Warren and thinks he may have seen on a wall at Crouse Hospital the name of a wealthy benefactor of the hospital named Warren. Anyway, Reed's name was born.

About a month after Reed was born I was at a work social event with Reed and saw an older gentleman who serves on a board with me. He asked about Reed's name and was thrilled with both the first and middle names because of United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren (which had also occurred to us earlier), known for many progressive court rulings, such as Brown v Board of Education. But this gentlemen, David, also pointed out that Stanley Forman Reed was also a US Supreme Court Justice, also having served during the Warren Court. I have since consulted the internet to learn more, and it turns out that Justice Reed was initially the lone holdout in the dissent for Brown v Board, which is what delayed the decision for about a year, because Chief Justice Warren felt it was so important that the decision be unanimous that he kept trying to persuade Justice Reed. Reed was from Kentucky and was apparently a segregationist, so it was a very big deal when he changed his mind to go along with the majority and signing on to the opinion which desegregated schools. I had not even known there was a Justice Reed and did not know this history but I think it's very neat!