What's in a Name?

When I had my first baby, a girl, there was nothing to think about. The baby would be named after my husband's mother. As it turned out, she wasn't. Because she was born on Easter Sunday, we named her Anastasia, which means 'the resurrection'. My mother-in-law, the mother of an ordained priest, did not care what the circumstances were which made us veer off the traditional path! She was so hurt that she refused to call the baby anything but.."princess" for six months! When I had my son, baby number two; again no deciding what the name should be...baby would be named after my father-in-law, Leonidas! (Which he was) Greeks have funny traditions, I thought, until I heard from reliable sources that other families had very similar traditions and customs! Naming after the parents, naming after the deceased grandparents, using the same first letter, using the same name but adding Jr. after the name are all examples of what was the usual way in selecting names for the newest member of a family. Things are not the same today. Couples like to name their babies after places where the child was conceived! Hence, you will find Brooklyn, and Paris, and even Disney, on the kindergarten roster. You may also find Summer and Friday to be your child's best friends. When I was a kid, I thought Tuesday Weld, (although a cute actress) had a 'weirdo name'. Nowadays, there is no such thing as a 'weirdo name'. We have taught our children to accept all people though they may be different from us...in color or ethnicity...we are all the same inside. As it should be! What has remained the same though is the ability of our children to grow INTO the names we have given them. Boys with strong, straight-forward names (Jacob, John, Ethan, Michael) grow into confident young adults. Kids with cutsie names (Billy, Phoebe, Ronnie, Sammy) grow up to be friendly people! Children with unusual names grow up to feel special and unique (Zachary, Phoenix and Monsserat). Let's not forget, we have "athlete names" too!...Jake, Ty, Cal, and Alex...and their matching cheerleader names of Bella, Sandy, and Lisa! In closing, personally, I have never met a Scott that was not handsome, or a Barbara that didn't have the best smile!! You might be reading this blog and thinking...who is this woman to make such assumptions? I agree with you! Who the heck am I?! I am just me! No credentials or degrees in Onomalogy! I just had an idea for this week's blog and went with it. PEACE.