The other day, I was chatting with a couple of my kids and we started talking about names. As I am studying up and getting ready to add a dog to our family, we started to banter around possible names. This conversation evolved and led into a conversation about the names I had chosen for my kids. One of my daughters asked me “If you could name me all over again, would you give me the same name?” I thought this was a great question! While I do think that my kids’ names suit them, maybe there are better, more suitable names out there…
We parents put so much care and conversation and debate into choosing our children’s names. Some parents find it takes them days (or weeks) after the child is born to finally settle on a name. Then, kids often end up with nicknames as they grow that seem much more suited to their personalities that the names there were given. Do you think your kids’ names are perfect years later? Or do you wish you had chosen something different? Has your child picked up a nickname that seems a better fit than the names on his or her birth certificate?
I am one of those people who has always “tolerated” my given name. It is not that it “doesn’t” fit, but it also has never felt like my given-and-completely-owned name. Maybe there was something out there that might have suited me better? I’ve never been blessed with a nickname to take the pressure off my given name either. When I named my own children, I wanted to make sure they had flexible names that they could change or shorten if they wanted and “do something with” so they wouldn’t feel stuck if they got a name they didn’t like—and they’ve all three taken advantage of that. I think if I had to do it all over again, I would probably name them the same names or something similar…or would I?
Also: Let’s Talk About Naming Your Baby
Naming Your Baby–A Priviledge or a Right?
Naming, Claiming, and Letting Go