Names

 

Let me introduce you to Hazel and Sophie. They’re Sue’s and my granddaughters, who arrived last Thursday morning, July 28.

Our daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Mike, settled on these names earlier but kept them secret until the twins arrived. But now, for the rest of their lives, everywhere that Hazel and Sophie go, those two appellations—Hazel and Sophie—will go with them. For our names are the most important words that we learn, and which accompany us on our life’s journeys.

For now, Hazel and Sophie have all the challenges of infancy to master, one of which will be to learn the sound of their own names, or whatever nicknames their parents may give them. But then they will round about the age of 2 begin to acquire other words. Having earlier picked up mama or dada, or other simple words, the girls’ vocabulary will suddenly explode in a verbal torrent and they’ll start saying things like porcupine, cabbage and mattress.

Sometimes parents engage in odd, sad or downright bizarre naming behaviors. We know of a Spokane family who named their child Snake. Then there’s the example from New Zealand, reported by the BBC in 2008. A judge considered the case of a nine-year-old girl, who was made a ward of the court so that she could legally change her given name: Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. The girl’s new name was not made known.

The BBC invited responses to its article, one of which came from a Londoner named Ftango Molasses. Someone else wrote, “No-one ever considered that the child might like the quirkiness of their name. Nothing has ever held back my development or progress….. Everyone calls me Eggy. I don’t see the problem.” His name? Egnorwiddle Waldstrom.

Frankly, I much prefer Hazel and Sophie.

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