Kid Names

Man, choosing a name for your child is hard work. You want unique, but not freaky; meaningful, but not obvious. The safe bet is the standard biblical or English names, like John or Mary, but they're so common. You can harken back to your cultural heritage, like Celtic or French names, but who wants to be called "Aithne"? You can randomly generate a name, which, if a African-Bulgarian-Icelandic-Irish-Roman Myth name is requested, will give you "Farai Uinseann" and years of conversation material, but anticipate therapy for your angry teenager once she realizes your nominal sense of humor. The name is a statement, a label, a gift or a burden for your child. It's very important to get it right.

But in the end, after hours of discussion and suggestions and communion with the cosmos, the name will find itself, giving just the right moniker to a new human, announcing Bob or Juju or Miraj Hafiz to the world. And we, the parents, will never get tired of saying it, followed by "I love you."