Choosing a name for your baby can be an interesting experience. Different couples have different ways of approaching the problem. Some try and come up with a list of names both like, or two lists of names and then whittle it down from there to names they both are happy with.
To me this has always seemed a sensible approach and is what we did when naming our two children. But not all couples manage the situation this way.
Recently I heard of a couple and the husband wanted a specific name which the wife hated. In the end the compromise was he got to name this child what he liked and she would get to name the next child what she wanted, no arguments. Is it worth this compromise to have to call a child a name you hate? Not in my book. I’ve heard of this solution before and I admit I find it odd. I could think of nothing worse that calling a child by a name I hate. Every time you had to use it, it would be grating on the ears.
Often our response to a name can depend on someone we have known in the past who has been called that and colored our view of that name for better or for worse. More often, it is that which sets us against a name. I remember a girl from my childhood who hurt me very deeply. As a result I’ve never been able to view that name with anything other than extreme dislike because it conjures up her image.
I suspect if the child is given a name which one person hates, then that person will usually end up not using the name at all and opting for a nickname. Nicknames can have their place and even be fun and intimate names in a family. I know our youngest granddaughter has several nicknames from her parents, not because they don’t like the name they gave her, but purely as a sign of affection. She still gets called by and sung to using her own beautiful name as well.
Names and nicknames are certainly something that needs to be considered carefully and in my opinion talked about a lot before arriving at one. What do you think? How did you name your child or children?
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