Monday 11 February 2008

Choosing a name

Choosing a name for the new baby is proving to be more complicated than I anticipated. When I was pregnant with Michael, we had already selected a single name choice for both a boy and a girl. We stuck to that and Michael Alexander came into the world. In The Netherlands you only have 3 working days to register your baby's birth with the local town hall so you have to have a name ready to go.

I must confess that I sometimes regret giving Michael his name. Not because I don't like the name - I do. Simply because I have never thought that he looks like a Michael. To my mind, it doesn't suit him. He's a very affectionate and engaging character and if I had had longer to decide then he might have had another name altogether.

This time, Phil and I have decided to pick out several names so that we can try to match the name to the child. We've narrowed the choices down to 3 or 4. Last night I was idly browsing babynames.com and I came across the most fantastic and extremely old English boy's name. I mentioned it to Phil and to my surprise he really liked it too. It wouldn't have looked out of place in the England of 700AD but today it would certainly raise some eyebrows. It is the name of 4 English kings and a Shakespearean character.

A distinctive name can be a blessing or a curse for a child so it is a hard choice. Phil and I are stubborn individuals so we would not avoid a name we really liked simply because it is not on a top 100 names list. However, there is always the mental image of our son returning home from school in a towering temper and cursing the day we named him.

A very tough choice.

2 comments:

Stephan said...

Aha! McBeth Gleghorn. Sounds like a strong name. Good choice!

Unknown said...

Tsk... such bad luck! It would have to be 'The Scottish Play' Gleghorn.