| When my son was born, I was just about to | | | | |
| turn 32 and his father was 56. Most people | | | | Day and night, the mister played with middle |
| figured that was our reason for not having | | | | names. At one point, he had a list of about |
| any more children. Wrong! I could not | | | | sixteen names that he dearly loved. And |
| fathom having to go through picking names | | | | that's when he got the bright idea that our |
| again. What a disaster. It almost wrecked | | | | child should have all of those names. That's |
| our marriage. | | | | right. He wanted to saddle our child, if it |
| | | | was a boy, with a "poem" of names. |
| We did agree that a name was very important. | | | | Actually, the way the mister spoke that list |
| We agreed that it was possible for name to | | | | of boys' names was quite entertaining and |
| motivate a kid or make him/her the object of | | | | unique and poetic, but I could not imagine |
| ridicule on the playground. We agreed that | | | | giving a small child the burden of having |
| we should find out what meanings were behind | | | | almost twenty names. The mister thought that |
| any names we liked or selected. And we even | | | | it was a perfect idea. Our bickering became |
| agreed on a few girls' names and that we | | | | a daily thing, and I truly thought we would |
| would wait until the baby arrived to select | | | | be divorced before the child was ever born. |
| one of those names. | | | | |
| | | | When the day came that I was to have labor |
| Although we did not have any scientific | | | | induced, the mister was ecstatic. He brought |
| evidence, we both wondered if having a name | | | | the camera along to document the birth, and |
| that was considered strange or weird would | | | | when I ended up having an emergency |
| affect the personality outcome of a child. | | | | c-section, he still took pictures. He wanted |
| | | | the bloody pictures to be a part of our |
| I shared some facts about girls that I had | | | | family album, and another fight ensued. |
| known in my youth. Candy became a dancer. | | | | |
| Laura was a librarian. And Elizabeth became | | | | The next morning, before the mister could |
| an attorney. You really had to wonder if the | | | | arrive at the hospital, a shy woman crept |
| names their parents chose had any impact on | | | | into my room. She wakened me and asked if my |
| their career choices. | | | | husband and I had selected a name for our |
| | | | son. |
| While we did share a love of just a few | | | | |
| girls' names, we could not agree upon a boy's | | | | Since the mister was not there, I gave her |
| name. Actually, there were hundreds of names | | | | the first name he and I had selected, plus |
| that we both loved. And that was the | | | | two middle names and our last name. Instead |
| problem. | | | | of a list of almost twenty names, our son had |
| | | | just one more name than usual. |
| The mister spent hours each day pouring over | | | | |
| books about baby names and their meanings. | | | | When the mister arrived, I told him that the |
| Some were strong names. Some names showed | | | | birth certificate would not have held all of |
| integrity. Others were names that sounded | | | | those names. I also explained that there |
| wise. There were names that evoked smiles | | | | would have been a far greater chance that the |
| and others that brought back good memories. | | | | birth records would have been wrong had we |
| | | | insisted on giving our child so many names. |
| Finally, we did agree on a first name, if our | | | | Both of these were partially true. |
| baby was a boy. But our problems were not | | | | |
| over. The mister had worked with computers | | | | Does a baby become the meaning of the name |
| when they took up entire buildings. When our | | | | given? Or do parents know from the start |
| son was born, though, the mister was a piano | | | | what traits their child will have? |
| bar player. He wrote and sang and played | | | | |
| piano and was actually very creative and | | | | Our baby's name meant ruler, and he certainly |
| artistic. That was our problem. He went | | | | acted as if he knew that. From the very |
| about choosing the middle name(s) for our | | | | start, he tried to run the show. Actually, |
| child with a vengeance, trying to be creative | | | | after 22 years, he still tries. |
| and poetic. | | | | |