Monday, May 2, 2011

Hi, my name is...



What is in a name?...a lot!
I personally think naming your child is one of the biggest decision facing a soon to be parent. I mean it's for life right?
We was lucky enough to know what we wanted to name our baby. We had these names picked out long before we even conceived, early enough that DH included them in his speech at our wedding, sure there was a bit of going back and forth to make sure it was what we wanted but ultimately we had them picked out early. But it seems we are the lucky few as many parents these days struggle to choose a name for their little bambino. I don't blame them it's no easy decision, there are a lot of factors to consider.

I remember early on in our relationship DH and I had discussed baby names should we ever have children together. His initial picks for girls were totally ridiculous in my mind. Let's just say his picks are commonly found with girls swinging from a pole in a seedy, dark strip club..yeah, no go! So we made a deal; I would come up with names for girls if I would accepted his pick for a boy; which was fine, I could live with his pick for a boy.

Now I've always been a strong believer that people take on certain characteristic dependent on their names. Is it coincidental that almost every Christine I know has similar personality traits? Or that every Joanne I ever known has had smiler temperaments? I think that certain names carry with them certain traits. Say you have hopes for your daughter to be super girlie, sensitive, maybe even docile, you may want a name that represents all that. I wont give my suggestions in case it may start a firestorm of people who have those names who disagree. Which brings me to another point. Keeping your baby name to yourself. Two reasons, so nobody "steals" your baby name and so people can't put their two cents in, after all, despite what I say; it is your decision. But you need to keep this stuff to yourself, all you need is to come up with a name you love and have some a-hole co worker share his or her story of how he or she hates that name because they had a bad experience with a person of the same name. Some people just feel the need to share.

So what if you have negative name association? then what? One jackass could ruin a perfectly good name for you to pick from. Say you absolutely love the name Nicholas, you always wanted to name your son that ever since you were a kid, but then you meet a guy with the same name who was a complete moron and an all around butt head. That person has now ruined that name for you. Every time you call out for your son, you may be reminded of the douche that you knew way back when. Same goes for names of celebrities or quasi-celebrities. Maybe you've always loved the name Clay, but now you associate it with Clay Aiken and you can't stand him....isn't that name now ruined for you? Now given, it could work the opposite way, like if you idealize Marilyn Monroe to the point where you many name your daughter Marilyn, then then in that case, that name association works out well and I hope that you never have a bad experience with someone else of the same name.

Now after looking through some baby names, just for fun, I've also noticed people trying to give their kids names that are spelled in "new" and "alternative" ways. I understand you want your kid to stand out , but if that's the case then pick a different name. If you want to name your kid Jackson or Jennifer, then spell it Jackson and Jennifer, why spell it Jaxson or Jenipher? All you've done is set up your child for a lifetime of correcting people on the spelling of their name, especially if it's a common name. If you want a original name then pick an original name. Pull a Gweneth and name the kid Apple or a Gwen and name the kid Zuma. If you want original then commit to original.

So that's where I stand on names. It's not as easy as one may think, I mean this is the name your child will be known ans associated with for the rest of their lives, unless of course they change it because they hated it so much, but at the same time, why try to complicate things by changing the spelling? If you dream of being avaunt guard and different then pick a name that reflects that. just remember kids can be cruel and adults, well we know they can be cruel, opinionated and just all around judgy. So many factors to consider when naming your offspring. That's why I'm trying to keep ours to ourselves and honestly if anyone gives me any slack for the names well, they can come talk to me directly and I'll give them a piece of my mind....naturally.

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