Melissa's Place

A Rose by any other Name...

Naming someone else's baby is a whole lot of fun. I've spent oodles of nights poring over the pages of quirky baby naming books and sifting through crazy Name Nerd websites creating creative and odd and wonderful lists of names both for actual suggestions as well as for entertainment. Naming someone else's child feels consequent-free to the name-suggester.

When it comes to naming our future Peron, I hadn't really spent as much enthusiasm or energy because:
a) We don't even know if it's a girl or a boy yet
b) It still feels really early
c) It took Mark and I an excruciatingly long time to pick out our wedding dishes at The Bay; I anticipate this might be a bumpy journey

But today, my friend Mao left a little something in my work mailbox which made me laugh. He carefully cut out an article from the Toronto Star (in two separate pieces from two separate pages) on naming your child.

http://www.thestar.com/article/432419

It mentions the weightiness of the decision (duh) and how having a really cool and hip and strong name can affect a person's life. I think cool and hip are relative to the cultural popularity trends of the time, so it's kind of silly to worry too much about that. However, I did find a few other points interesting. Someone named Lansky has come up with a rating scale for rating names. It is based on six categories (with a possible highest rating of six stars):

1. First impression (yes, but whose?)
2. Gender clarity (apparently, gender-neutral names are good for girls but not for boys)
3. Popularity trends (Do you want the way weird name or the way too trendy name?)
4. Risk of misspelling (Not an issue if you name your kid Apple)
5. Risk of mispronunciation (Also not an issue if you name your kid Apple)
6. Versatility (A name that can change as you mature, so for instance, Bambi or Kitty doesn't seem very versatile to me)

The article begs the question, would Brad Pitt be just as sexy if he was named Maynard? I'll just let you chew on that one for a while because I don't have the answer.

What I do know is that Mao offered a wonderful list of name suggestions (our first list of suggested names actually), and I wanted to share them with you.

First of all, he notes, Greek, Roman and Norse gods are hot this year. Also double initials are hot.

Moby Dick Peron
Viola Cello Peron
Cletus Bobert Peron
Julio Iglesias Peron
Caesar Martini Peron
Venus Aphrodite Peron
Ottavio Octavius Peron (O.O. Peron)
Ryanne Butler Peron (for a girl)
Ryan Butler Peron (for a boy)
Estrella Freya Hespera Peron
Bailey Dublin Peron
Georgia Peach Peron
Isis Peron
Rainbow Peron
Matthew Alan Peron (M.A.P. and shameless self-promotion)
Coco Crisps Peron
Virgil Winslow Peron
Peter Parker Peron
Princess Peach Peron
Mario Luigi Peron
Jupiter Apollo Peron
Zolten Zeus Peron (Z.Z. Peron) Mao has reserved the rights to this one for his first-born
Moxie Crimefighter Peron (my second favourite name)

and B.P.'s new in-utero nickname because I love it so much...

Tiberius Thor Peron

Thank you, Mao.