“Name That Baby”

Almost from the moment I found out I was expecting, I started to think about what name I would give my child, boy or girl. I knew that what ever name I would choose would be powerful, meaningful and would have some sort of biblical relation or significance. I know that everyone is different but I wonder about people who, even after a baby is born, they still don’t have a name for the child. I worry about those who choose names with no particular significance or meaning. Some even go as far as taking parts of each parent’s name to make one name for the child.

I am reminded of Shakespeare’s famous lyrical tale of “Romeo and Juliet’, and the specific scene in which Juliet asked Romeo “What is in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet”. Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless thing. Well, I beg to differ. I think that our names are a very big part of our identity and how we want people to perceive us, and more importantly how we perceive ourselves. In the long run, a name can be a deal breaker for some people, especially if there are negative connotations associated with it.

The child has no say in how or why a particular name is selected for him or her, and is therefore at the mercy of the parents. That name is that child’s brand for life. So when parents don’t put enough effort and research into name selection, and simply choose a name because they like the sound of it or for some other arbitrary reason, it is quite worrying – poor kid!

By the end of my first trimester, I had nearly twenty meaningful names for either sex, and I knew that I had two more trimesters in which to narrow it down and choose the best ones for my baby.