meaning: What matters is what something is, not what it is called.
I agree that what something is is important, but I also think that what we are called matters. Personally, I love my name and can't imagine being called by anything else. Names are often passed down from generation to generation, they have personal meaning to us from special experiences or people in our own lives. Most of society takes the naming of their children seriously. Hence the million "Name Books" out there, meant to soothe stressed parents looking for the perfect name that's just right for their child. Something they can hopefully be proud of down the road.
Here's what prompted all this: I was picking up the kids from the gym's Kids Club yesterday when one of the gals there complimented me on Berlin's name. I said thanks, we really like it too. Apparently she thought that response was an invitation to tell me that after hearing Berlin as a name, she's decided that when she and her husband get pregnant if it's a girl, she wants to use Berlin as her name because it's "just so cool!" (those were her exact words). Cool??? Hmmm. That's not what was really going thru our minds when we named her, but ok.
But this isn't the first time this has happened. Last month I attended the 1st birthday of a little boy in our ward. One of the gals there used to be in our ward about a year ago. I found out that she's expecting her first child in June and it's a girl. We got to talking about Finley and the arrival of Berlin and that was that. Apparently, she had her baby shower last week and she told our mutual friend (the mom of the little boy who's 1st birthday it was) that she and her husband thought Berlin was a cool girl's name and thus have decided it's one of their top 2 names right now. Again what's with the cool factor? Does everything have to be about being cool?
It just bugs me because Ryan and I spent a lot of time (and I mean A LOT) deciding on the names of both of our children. I feel like they should pay us a finder's fee or something. I mean there are people out there that get paid big bucks to help couples find the "perfect" name for their children. Don't get me wrong, I know that we aren't the first people to name a child Berlin and we won't be the last. But COME ON PEOPLE ... Be original! Or atleast just say it's a nice name and leave it at that. Don't go on a diatribe about how "Cool" it is. It makes it sound trendy, cheap, and fleeting.
Am I wrong? Should I feel more elated that people like her name and want it for their own? Am I just being petty or should I suck it up for the sake of knowing my kids' name is "Just Cool!"
2 comments:
At least you hear how cool Boo's name is - the number 1 comment we get on the girls' names is "Oh - that's unique. Isn't that a boy's name?" Nope - not for our girls. Sorry to burst your bubble people, but seriously - why should I feel the need to explain or defend our selection of names for our daughters? I give you full permission to bop the next person who comments on Boo's name on the head.
Couldn't agree more...it's so frustrating when you have spent a lot of time coming up a name that means something to you and your husband and is a special thing for your child just to have someone say "wow, it's cool...we are going to use it now". HELLO, people...come up with your own name. The thing is...how stupid do they sound when someone asks them why they named their child what they did just to have to say "oh we heard it from someone else and just liked it". Totally unoriginal. The other thing that bugs me is people who think we named Keegan after someone else's kid. Nope...sorry, found it in a book and liked what it meant (because he was and still is my little fireball). Didn't even know that someone famous had a kid by the same name until you told me so when my son was 10 months old. Like I have the time to search what celebrities name their kids just so I can copy them.
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