What's In A Name?

It took a long time for Daddy and me to agree on names for our children.  When we first found out about Mini, we saw a rainbow and decided that this would be her name.  Rainbow.  We subsequently decided that we couldn't do this to a child of ours; that, while it would be cute during her baby and toddler years, it would probably annoy the hell out of her for the rest of her life.

What fascinates me is that this kind of reasoning seems to bypass some people.  Yes, celebrities have certainly had their share of bizarrely named offspring, but it's not just them.  Recently recorded names include Peanut, Malteser, Twinkle, Comfort, Chaos, Whip and Mystery.

Seriously, why would you do that to the most precious people in your life?  Naming a child is an important decision that should be made thoughtfully and responsibly, not an opportunity to become a local celebrity of sorts.

I am pleased to say that we eventually decided on Jasmine for our daughter as it is both a beautiful name and special to us as it contains my name (Jen) and her father's (James).  We called her Jas from about week 26 in the pregnancy, despite not being sure of her sex.  Indeed, we were so accustomed to calling the not-yet-baby Jas that if she had been born a boy after all, he may well have been stuck with the same name...maybe we're not so faultless after all!