What’s in a name?
Depending on the name – the answer might be uncontrollable twitching.
I was listening to the radio this week while I was at work and they had a whole hour long call in show about names. The people calling in told about their own names or the names of their children – what they meant, how they came to be “the name” and how they felt about them now. It was kind of interesting to hear the stories of how names came to be. Many were chosen because of the meaning behind the names or because of others who had that name before.
So this whole program sent me down a long trail of thought. See, I don’t have kids yet, so I’ve still got the luxury of thinking about what I’d like to name these children someday – if I ever have any. When I was little, it was easy. My best friend and I both had notebooks where we kept lists of names we really liked. By the time we quit keeping the notebook list, mine had gotten so long, it could have been a “name the baby” book by itself. But back then things were so simple. I would write down names just because I liked the sound of them or because I thought they fit well with the last name of that week’s crush.
And back then, I truly hated weird names. My name is not altogether weird, but the spelling was highly unusual back then. Today, I actually know more Rebekah’s than Rebecca’s. But back then, no one I knew would spell my name the way mine was spelled. So I spent the majority of my life saying, “Actually it’s R-e-b-e-k-a-h.” And then I’d politely listen while the person on the other end of my conversation commented on its uniqueness and wondered where my parents got it. So I vowed I would never name my kid anything weird.
And then I started working in Financial Aid. In this respect, it’s much like a teaching job, I imagine. You start to encounter a lot of people who make you roll your eyes – or cross your eyes – or gouge out your eyes. And suddenly, a name alone can send you into convulsions that seem to never end. And in the process, said name – a perfectly good name – is ruined forever. There are now dozens and dozens of names I can never use because of those who have gone before, proudly carrying those names into the X list of Bekah’s planning.
So now that I’ve marked off 80% of possible names to avoid twitching, I have to deal with the next issue, which is longevity. I cringed when Julia Roberts named her kids Hazel and Phineas. I wanted to say “Why don’t you just put them in the nursing home now?” These older names that are coming back have a beauty all their own, but I just can’t sit and rock my baby girl and say “Oh, my beautiful Ava” and not think of my one great aunt that was about 112 before I ever met her! And on the flip side of that, I’d love to hold a baby Brittany, but when she’s in line for dentures, I just can’t see the name fitting anymore.
I’ve also recently learned the travesty of name-stealing. This was new to me. But all my friends have all their baby names picked out. And apparently it is in very poor taste to take a name already selected by a friend. Who knew? And even worse, they don’t tell their names, so that no one steals them, but then if you announce your name for a baby you already have cooking, they say, “Oh that was our name!!” WELL HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW!! (By the way, I’ve never had this happen to me, since I have no children – I’ve just heard stories. Just to clarify.)
I don’t know whether or not you’ve ever seen the movie “Where the Heart is” (GREAT movie!) but the nurse in the hospital named her kids Brownie, Praline, Cherry, and Baby Ruth. I’m starting to see the wisdom in that. It would solve so many problems.
So all of this to say…I am now back to square one on names. The ones in my childhood list are gone. They’ve either been ruined by someone I encountered in my job, they have a definite age marker, or they’ve been put on layaway by my friends. So this leaves me with no choice but to pick something totally weird and when the kids complain, I’ll just say, “Sorry you have to keep explaining it – I totally feel your pain. You’ll get over it.”
Having said that, Braeya was one of my girl names. I had picked it out and had it on this famous “layaway list” for my someday baby girl. But when I got my little Braeya, I had decided I wasn’t having kids after all. So rather than waste a perfectly good name, I used it for her.
Now I’ve decided it would be nice to have kids someday. But we’re going to have to stick with boys – because those are the names I still have.
Depending on the name – the answer might be uncontrollable twitching.
I was listening to the radio this week while I was at work and they had a whole hour long call in show about names. The people calling in told about their own names or the names of their children – what they meant, how they came to be “the name” and how they felt about them now. It was kind of interesting to hear the stories of how names came to be. Many were chosen because of the meaning behind the names or because of others who had that name before.
So this whole program sent me down a long trail of thought. See, I don’t have kids yet, so I’ve still got the luxury of thinking about what I’d like to name these children someday – if I ever have any. When I was little, it was easy. My best friend and I both had notebooks where we kept lists of names we really liked. By the time we quit keeping the notebook list, mine had gotten so long, it could have been a “name the baby” book by itself. But back then things were so simple. I would write down names just because I liked the sound of them or because I thought they fit well with the last name of that week’s crush.
And back then, I truly hated weird names. My name is not altogether weird, but the spelling was highly unusual back then. Today, I actually know more Rebekah’s than Rebecca’s. But back then, no one I knew would spell my name the way mine was spelled. So I spent the majority of my life saying, “Actually it’s R-e-b-e-k-a-h.” And then I’d politely listen while the person on the other end of my conversation commented on its uniqueness and wondered where my parents got it. So I vowed I would never name my kid anything weird.
And then I started working in Financial Aid. In this respect, it’s much like a teaching job, I imagine. You start to encounter a lot of people who make you roll your eyes – or cross your eyes – or gouge out your eyes. And suddenly, a name alone can send you into convulsions that seem to never end. And in the process, said name – a perfectly good name – is ruined forever. There are now dozens and dozens of names I can never use because of those who have gone before, proudly carrying those names into the X list of Bekah’s planning.
So now that I’ve marked off 80% of possible names to avoid twitching, I have to deal with the next issue, which is longevity. I cringed when Julia Roberts named her kids Hazel and Phineas. I wanted to say “Why don’t you just put them in the nursing home now?” These older names that are coming back have a beauty all their own, but I just can’t sit and rock my baby girl and say “Oh, my beautiful Ava” and not think of my one great aunt that was about 112 before I ever met her! And on the flip side of that, I’d love to hold a baby Brittany, but when she’s in line for dentures, I just can’t see the name fitting anymore.
I’ve also recently learned the travesty of name-stealing. This was new to me. But all my friends have all their baby names picked out. And apparently it is in very poor taste to take a name already selected by a friend. Who knew? And even worse, they don’t tell their names, so that no one steals them, but then if you announce your name for a baby you already have cooking, they say, “Oh that was our name!!” WELL HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW!! (By the way, I’ve never had this happen to me, since I have no children – I’ve just heard stories. Just to clarify.)
I don’t know whether or not you’ve ever seen the movie “Where the Heart is” (GREAT movie!) but the nurse in the hospital named her kids Brownie, Praline, Cherry, and Baby Ruth. I’m starting to see the wisdom in that. It would solve so many problems.
So all of this to say…I am now back to square one on names. The ones in my childhood list are gone. They’ve either been ruined by someone I encountered in my job, they have a definite age marker, or they’ve been put on layaway by my friends. So this leaves me with no choice but to pick something totally weird and when the kids complain, I’ll just say, “Sorry you have to keep explaining it – I totally feel your pain. You’ll get over it.”
Having said that, Braeya was one of my girl names. I had picked it out and had it on this famous “layaway list” for my someday baby girl. But when I got my little Braeya, I had decided I wasn’t having kids after all. So rather than waste a perfectly good name, I used it for her.
Now I’ve decided it would be nice to have kids someday. But we’re going to have to stick with boys – because those are the names I still have.
2 comments:
When we got our first dog, Barry wanted to name him Sidney. I immediately told him that was a great name for a girl, so no, he couldn't name the dog Sidney. He eventually settled on Nigel, a great name for a dog, not so great for an American kid--at least one of our kids, we decided. Fortunately he listened to me since we did have a girl 8 months later, who we named Sydney. :)
It is amazing how one person can ruin a name! We had contemplated the name Lydia for a while (a good strong Biblical name), and then we met one who was having an affair with a minor...needless to say, should we ever have kids Lydia will not be one of them.
Post a Comment