The Name Game

Here is a question I would like to ask parents. How did you figure out what to name your child(ren)? Was it after a relative, friend, lost loved one, or was it a name that would sound good rolling off your tongue when you had to discipline your child? (Which one of my friends actually admitted to )

I see all kinds of names where I work. There are names from all walks of life. Some long, some foreign, some hard to figure out how to even try to pronounce them, and some extremely funny. For example, there was an actual person named, 'Ima Bush'. Seriously, Ms. Ima Bush. I am sure Ms. Bush is a very nice person, and I apologize if she is now reading this and is offended, as that certainly was not my main objective. I guess Ms. Bush's parents weren't thinking soundly after the delivery of their beautiful baby girl, "Let's name her Ima...Ima Bush." How much teasing & harassment do you think Ima received at school, in the playground or even at work? And unbelievably there are many, many, many and many more funny, crazy names out there! I actually saw a file for Jesus Crist. (I'm serious)

So now I would like to ask some parents, "What were you thinking?"

As a mother, I remember being pregnant, everything was crystal clear. I knew all of the tasks that needed to be accomplished, but then again I also craved steak, hot sauce & egg foo young (go figure). But most importantly, for forever, always & to this day, I love surprises. So, I didn't want to know the sex of our baby prior to birth. I did, however, decide on a name for our baby. The same name whether it was a boy or a girl. The first name had no family significance, but it was Irish, I had always loved it, & although I had rarely heard it as a female name, it could be spelled a little differently & still be cool. The middle name was my maiden name , because I am proud of my heritage & it is a Scottish tradition. And of course the last name was our family name, my married name, which I embrace because I love my husband and am equally proud of my Celtic heritage.

I know that some of you might have read my blog in the past few years. So some of you have seen my daughter's name. But for those of you that haven't, well, here's the kicker, as I now ask other parents, "What were you thinking?", I also have to ask myself the same question!! Because even though I thought I was being so smart; giving my child a cool name... I found out 4 years later that I was so wrong!!!

The first week my daughter was in pre-school, she came home extremely upset because another little girl called her, "Crying Ryann." Why didn't I see that coming? I should have known better. I had gotten teased almost my whole life for one thing or another, I wanted my child to have a different experience. But honestly, I think everyone gets picked on sometime or another, for all kinds of different things. I think it's wrong, but does happen.

I know that I love my daughter & her name. To me, her name means a strong & independent girl (future woman), unfortunately to other children it means she cries alot... The 'Name Game' aspect didn't even occur to me when I was thinking of children's names!!! It should have since my Dad's name was 'Chuck', which was always a favorite for anyone who wanted to play 'The Name Game', a tradition anyone from the 70's-80's era should remember. You know? 'Chuck, Chuck..."

So, now I know am am one of those parents that should be asked, "What were you thinking?"