“So, have you thought about what to name your baby?” I asked my pregnant friend Kes a few months ago.
“I haven’t decided on it, yet,” she replied. “But I was thinking of coming up with a name that was a combination of my parents’ names, my husband’s and my own.”
“Well, as long as it doesn’t sound too weird, I guess that’s okay,” I surmised.
“What do you mean?” she wondered.
“Well if the derived name still sounds a bit natural, like Gelle,” I said, referring to our friend who was also in our discussion, “Then it’s fine. But if it sounds a bit too trying hard, then I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
We mulled that over as we spent the next few minutes trying to come up with a natural sounding name.
Then the topic somehow shifted to how our parents came up with our own names. Kes and I didn’t really know why our parents chose our particular names, but we both didn’t like our own names. She hated hers because it was the same as that of a local actress whom she didn’t really like (her name is actually Janice, Kes is just our nickname for her). I didn’t like mine because people never knew how to spell or pronounce it right the first time.
“What about you, Drew?” I asked. “Where did you get your name?”
“It was derived from my father’s name,” he replied.
I realized that while I knew both Kes and Gelle’s parents’ names (and I had met them as well), I had no idea about Drew’s. “Oh, really? What’s his name?” I inquired further.
“Andrefacio.” At this point we couldn’t help but succumb to laughter. (So sorry, Drew’s father, sir!)
“What? But why such a strange name?” I queried amidst the laughter.
“I know, thank goodness I wasn’t named exactly after him,” he said. “He was born on Andres Bonifacio day, so that’s where they got his name from.” Ummm. Okay.
“You know what I learned from this, Kes?” I said. “That you shouldn’t name your child with a forced derived name because someday, your grandkids’ friends might laugh at him.”
“Oh my gosh, that is a lesson learned indeed!” she agreed.
And you know what, soon after that, I found article after article which agreed with me. The latest one I found is this one from GQ, which states:
Do not invent a name. Most inventions fail. Many don’t even make it past the patent stage. What makes you think a name you created out of thin air is gonna stand the test of time? There’s a reason why “Jane” and “David” have hung around for so long. They’re proven. They’ve been workshopped out in the field. That’s not true of Kaydiss. You didn’t even run it past a focus group. You’re putting the responsibility for an entire new product launch on that poor baby’s shoulders. That’s a dick move. This also goes for any classic name that you deliberately mutilated. No one’s gonna be dazzled that you took Christopher and turned it into Krystougher.
But seriously, read that entire article, it’s chock full of wisdom and wit. Meanwhile, this article states:
“Studies have shown that names do set up certain expectations and can influence people who put a lot of weight on first impressions. And that elementary school teachers tend to grade students with unusual names more strictly than children with common names.”
Well those were apparently old studies, but personally, I cringe when people name their kids in ways that are too difficult to spell, like something with a bunch of unneeded H’s or something like Krystougher as mentioned above. It’s fine to be unique as long as you don’t go too far. Like my name, for example. The typical spelling is Heidi but my dad was into numerology and had to change the spelling to Heidee so my full name computes to a lucky number. Though I didn’t like it before, I’ve grown to do so now (duh, it’s even on my blog’s name). But if it had been spelled as Haighdee, I don’t think I could ever have liked that EVER.
I’m just glad my taste in names has changed, because back in high school, I wanted to name my future child Galaxy. Thank goodness I wasn’t a teenage mom, huh? 😛
Meanwhile, my friend Kes already gave birth last week and I’m so glad she took my advice and her baby has a nice, normal sounding name which somehow fits what she wanted. Congrats, Kes! 🙂