First-born daughter named after Idyllwild

There are many ways parents come up with names for their children. Sometimes, it’s a family name that is passed down. Other times, it’s a name they found in a book, or perhaps, it’s a name they always had in mind. For this couple, however, they chose to name their first little girl after Idyllwild.

Bronwyn Lewis Friscia and James Friscia moved to San Diego in October of 2020, but discovered Idyllwild while living in Venice Beach years before when they made a trip up for Valentine’s Day. They fell in love with the community, so much so, they chose to name their first child after it.  

Bronwyn said, “Ages before we were even thinking about having children, we looked at each other and said, ‘Wouldn’t Idyllwild be a cool name for a woman?’ When we found out we were pregnant with a daughter, we looked at each other and said, ‘Idyllwilde?’” 

The decision stuck, and they welcomed Idyllwilde Bryony Lewis Friscia into the world in early May of 2020. She will be celebrating her first birthday in less than a month. 

“We have been coming to Idyllwild for many years,” Bronwyn said. “We loved the town and when we think about the name Idyllwild, it kind of captured Idyll meaning peace, and Wild capturing adventure.” James added, “Those are two things we aspire for her to be — a free adventurer — and we went with it.”

While the town is spelled Idyllwild, the Friscias wanted to give their daughter a little something of her own and decided to spell her name Idyllwilde.

While there’s been some debate on when exactly the Friscias first made their way up to Idyllwild, they know they fell in love immediately.

While Bronwyn thinks it was in 2016, James said, “I think it was much sooner than 2016, but I know it was on Valentine’s Day for sure. We’ve had some debate on when exactly we first came up.”

Regardless of when, the Friscias wanted to escape the city and had been promising each other a trip up to Idyllwild for a long time. A quick get-away to somewhere new was their goal.

“The name [Idyllwild] just captured our imagination,” Bronwyn said. “It looked like a lovely, artsy, spiritual change of pace from Los Angeles. It was all of that and a lot more.”

It seems the imagination has been a strong tradition for welcoming new lives into the world within the family. According to Bronwyn, Idyllwilde’s maternal great-grandmother was from rural Virginia. There were three sisters: Geneva, Venice and Moselle, seemingly all named from special places around the globe and very different from the life they knew in rural Virginia. 

“They were all named from these far-flung places that must have captured the imagination of this very humble family in rural Virginia around the early 1900s,” Bronwyn explained.

The difference is that the place that caught the Friscias’ attention is only a couple hours away. This makes it much easier for Idyllwilde and her parents to explore and immerse themselves in the reality of what their imagination provided them.

On April 8, the Friscia family made a visit to Idyllwild to show Idyllwilde the place she was named after. They met Mayor Max and spent some time in town. While Idyllwilde is young, she will have the photos and stories of the first time she visited the town that she was named after, and hopefully, many more visits in her future.

“We were so flattered when Phyllis [Mueller] mentioned the newspaper might want to have a little piece on Idyllwilde,” Bronwyn said. “I think that will be such a neat thing for her when she grows up and a really special keepsake for us as well.”

James added, “It forges that life-long connection with our girl and your town. We love it so much.”

The Friscia family hopes to one day call Idyllwild home, but in the meantime, they will be able to make the trip from sunny San Diego to the tall pines of Idyllwild with their first baby girl, Idyllwilde.