Names can be quite unique or very traditional, depending on how we want to name our children.
There are times when a name is carried through many generations, as that for some is the thing to do.
My siblings are named after our grandparents. They are Dutch names and clearly not names to be translated into the English language, although we were all born in Canada.
With these Dutch names, they would begin school, and neither teachers nor students could roll the r or do the Dutch g or j sound when pronouncing the name, which turned out to be quite interesting. My siblings hated it, soon found names that were more suitable and still use them today.
I, on the other hand, was to be a boy, and my name was to be Steven, named after my dad’s dad. They never picked out a girls name, as they were sure I would be a boy.
Back in the day, parents could take a few weeks to name their child, and after seven days in the hospital, I went home with my mom, nameless.
The time came for this little girl to have a name of her own, so the nurses thought Stephanie was a good fit. My dad did not like it, but mom did and so the nurses named me Stephanie.
I have always liked my name, and I do not appreciate when it is shortened to Steph, as that is not my name.
When our kids were born, we did not do the traditional, although there was one parent who made it clear that our son should be named after him. This name would not have followed tradition either.
We picked names that we liked, that were special to us and unique.
For months, we wagered which names went well together and both genders' names were picked out before our first born's arrival, as we did not know if we would have a boy or a girl. We did name our children after us, after all they are our children.
How did you choose the spelling? Is this unique as well? Did you choose to spell a simple name differently just to mess up the teachers at school, or did you do this because you wanted your child’s name to stand out?
Our daughter’s name Krystle came from the show Dynasty, and we loved how it was spelled. Our son’s came from Telly Savalas from the show Kojak, although our son is not bald.
As a parent, the name we pick for our children is a lifelong commitment and one we should choose wisely.
A name that is strong and that people cannot make fun of is important, because let’s be honest, in school, a name that can be mocked will be.
I checked out some of the movie stars' offsprings' names and I wonder what they were thinking when they named their child Apple, Audio Science and Northwest.
Yes, these are real names given to children. Some of them looked like they just placed some letters together and called it a name.
Over the years I have heard people say that they do not like their name and wish it was something else, but this name your parents gave you was special to them, or they felt they needed to follow the tradition of naming after parents.
This makes me think of the song by Johnny Cash, A Boy Named Sue. Seriously who would call their boy this?
In the song there is plenty of reasons the dad did this, but the young fellow thought it was cruel and learned many lessons with this name Sue. The song, although not based on a real event, does bring a message across.
So, name your boy Frank, George, Bill or Tom, anything but Sue.
