After reading this article in The New York Times I can't help but even be more fascinated by names and why and how parents make the decisions that they do.
Maybe just a running joke between friends, but Khadijah-Blu is a favorite name. Not that Khadijah, wife of Mohamed is anything to laugh about (thanks to RoomBabi for discovering the essence of this name wonder), but the thought of a four year old learning to write and spell or even pronounce her name just makes me laugh. Little Khadijah-Blu has more letters in her first name than my first AND last name, and it wasn't easy to learn for me. Maybe I was just slow.
I am all for naming babies after significant figures in life, whether famous or personally significant (I was in fact named after my great-grandmother, who did NOT make burgers as good as White Castle but was a lovely woman my dad has informed me). But to make a significant name cutesy by adding a mispelled color just doesn't seem quite as dignified. To each their own I guess.
Growing up, I used to volunteer at a pre-school attached to a housing project after school. I would go each week and read to the little three and four year olds. Though I think of the children often (a four year old named Asia, I assure you is famous somewhere...that kid had brains and personality), I am always particuarly reminded of little Nyquil Williams. I just googled Nyquil (or Willie as the teachers affectionatly called him) to see what he was up to (he might be a teenager by now) only to find that there is ANOTHER Nyquil Williams out there--actually a Synepherine Nyquil Williams out in the world. I hope my Nyquil is doing well, even if he has to explain his name to everyone he runs into. I wonder what his mother was thinking. Maybe it is a significant name...maybe Nyquil helped her sleep before she gave birth? Either way, he will have some explaining to do when he applies for jobs, that is for sure. But I guess Cupcake Brown was a success, so here is hoping for Nyquil.
Maybe just a running joke between friends, but Khadijah-Blu is a favorite name. Not that Khadijah, wife of Mohamed is anything to laugh about (thanks to RoomBabi for discovering the essence of this name wonder), but the thought of a four year old learning to write and spell or even pronounce her name just makes me laugh. Little Khadijah-Blu has more letters in her first name than my first AND last name, and it wasn't easy to learn for me. Maybe I was just slow.
I am all for naming babies after significant figures in life, whether famous or personally significant (I was in fact named after my great-grandmother, who did NOT make burgers as good as White Castle but was a lovely woman my dad has informed me). But to make a significant name cutesy by adding a mispelled color just doesn't seem quite as dignified. To each their own I guess.
Growing up, I used to volunteer at a pre-school attached to a housing project after school. I would go each week and read to the little three and four year olds. Though I think of the children often (a four year old named Asia, I assure you is famous somewhere...that kid had brains and personality), I am always particuarly reminded of little Nyquil Williams. I just googled Nyquil (or Willie as the teachers affectionatly called him) to see what he was up to (he might be a teenager by now) only to find that there is ANOTHER Nyquil Williams out there--actually a Synepherine Nyquil Williams out in the world. I hope my Nyquil is doing well, even if he has to explain his name to everyone he runs into. I wonder what his mother was thinking. Maybe it is a significant name...maybe Nyquil helped her sleep before she gave birth? Either way, he will have some explaining to do when he applies for jobs, that is for sure. But I guess Cupcake Brown was a success, so here is hoping for Nyquil.
