There is a tiny new person in my family. He is less than a month old, and has no name yet. I used to call him Possu (Piggy) because his mother got a swine flu jab a bit before he was born, and I thought he might turn out to have a bit of a piggy nose like his aunt (I sometimes call this tiny new person's sister Kananen (Little Chicken) but in case you're wondering it has nothing to do with avian flu - she's just a wee chicken, that's all).
I haven't met the tiny new person yet, but I have seen a few photos and I can imagine he is wonderful. The most wonderful thing is that he has no name because his parents haven't decided on one yet. Although his mother seemed a bit distressed about the topic the last time it came up, I can't help but think that this tiny new person still has a certain freedom that comes from having no fixed identity in the form of a name. He has his whole future ahead of him not only in the sense that he is a baby and will most probably have many years of life to live, but also because he is simply the much loved tiny new person that does not have to respond to his name, does not have to sign his name or write down his initials, and has none of the other responsibilities that come with having a name.
When I was a child I wanted to change my name, and even more so when my mother told me that I could when I grew up. Now, well over the legal age required for changing your name, I can't think of what I would change my name to. I have had my fair share of problems with my name as the different linguistic environments (?) I have lived in have not always allowed for the correct spelling or pronunciation of my name, and so after I left university I considered calling myself by my middle name. But I soon realised that not only was it an equally confusing name, it simply wasn't me.
How do you decide on what to call your child, anyway? My parents apparently just knew. They liked the name and that was it. I share my middle name with one of my aunts who I never really got to know, and I have come to appreciate carrying her name for that very reason - it's my connection to her. Not too long ago I got a better peak at what her life was like through some photographs from the 60s and 70s that another one of my aunt's showed me, and it looked like she didn't shy away from enjoying life despite the hardships that came along her way.
Liking the name or wanting to pass on a family name are of course very good reasons, but there must be an element of compromise in the decision making process if for some reason the other parent , or, worse yet, your family does not agree with you. Or if a name may sound beautiful in your language, but in the other parent's language it means something rude. Or if the family name is just too commonplace and you want to name your child something that is a bit different, or not the fashionable name of the half-decade.
So, you think MY name is strange? Here are some that I think are strange, some to the point of being hilarious or scary or just...wrong. I opted to exclude the strange names of relatives and friends so as to avoid offending as few people as possible...;)
Milady (F, Mexico)
Ladydi (F,Mexico)
Stalin (M, Mexico)
Lyly (M, Finland)
Nyyrikki (M, Finland)
Hemminki (M, Finland)
Ylermi (M, Finland)
Signe (F, Finland)
Ilmatar (F, Finland)
Suometar (F, Finland)
Julio Cesar (M, Colombia)
Feel free to add to the list...
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