What's in a Name?

When Chris and I found out I was pregnant the easiest discussion we had about our arriving bundle of joy was deciding a name.

A few months before I was even expecting, we had already discussed what we would call our children if we were to be parents together. I hated his girl name, he hated my boy name. So it was pretty easy.

My girl name, of course, was Hannah. Ever since I was younger, I knew if I had a daughter I would like to call her that. I didn't know anyone named Hannah, so there were no bad connotations. Her name is a palindrome (it's spelled the same forwards and backwards). And of course, with the English spelling, her name ends with an H just like her Mommy.

I'm really hoping the whole "Hannah Montana" thing doesn't haunt her. I know when she starts school, kids her age will have no idea what that show is. We've already started to call her "The Banana", so I hope that won't bug her either. What I hope MOST of all is that she's the only Hannah in her class. Growing up, there were usually three or four other Sarahs in the same ROOM that I had to contend with. One year, there were even two Sarahs with the same starting letter of their last names. Talk about frustrating and feeling super unspecial.

Unlike Hannah, my name came from someone in my family - my great, great, great grandmother. This was a lady who disowned her own daughter, Laura. All because Laura married someone who Sarah thought was underneath their family socially.

However, when giving Hannah her middle names, I unknowingly righted a wrong. One of her middle names is Laurelyn - after my Great Aunt and my Mom. On a recent trip, my Great Aunt revealed she was named after the scorned Laura, so in a round about way, my daughter was too. So take that Sarah!

Anyways, my Mom has taken a lot of flack from me over the years about how much I dislike my name. I just hope when Hannah gets older she'll like hers. And if she doesn't, I'll respond how my Mom does and say, "You can name YOUR children whatever you want when you're older."

How did you choose your child's name?

© 2012 YYZ Bambina. All Rights Reserved.