Naming

When we named our daughter, we gave the process a fair amount of thought. My initial offerings, which included Helen D (as in, Helen Damnation), didn't make the cut. Eventually, we picked a name that fit several criteria -- it was easy to say and spell, it was a common name but one that wasn't in vogue at the moment (we didn't want her to be Ashley #23, or Rebecca/Rebekka/Rebeccah, though as I think of it, I can't imagine why Chewbaccah didn't occur to me), and it had to sound good with our last name -- it's a short name, so almost anything would go with it. (In the movie 1941, a girl says to the charismatic bandleader 'Sam...tell me..your name isn't really Sam..is it? ' He smiles and shakes his head, No. "What is it, Sam? What's your real name?" He looks at her. "Raoul." She gasps. "Raoul! I knew it! I knew you couldn't have a name as ordinary as Sam! And your last name -- what is it? " He pauses. "Lipshitz.") As it happened, since the first name we picked was plain, we picked a somewhat grand middle name, so that if she even decided that she didn't like the first one, perhaps she'd just drop back to the middle one. An unexpected benefit was when I came up with a little rhyme that incorporated her name and the words 'brings me euphoria'; I would sing it to her sometimes when I did the 2AM walk, and as she grew older she learned it, so that if I would start the song, she'd finish it with a certain amount of glee, knowing, even before she knew what euphoria was, that this was about her, and that it was a Good Thing.

Names are cool. The Romulans say they're considerably more than that, that they evoke the very essence of the thing or person named, and I would bet there are sects on this planet who feel that way, too. I always assume a Colleen will be tall, with red hair (even though the only one I've ever known was short with black hair). Becky's are friendly, Kelly's are athletic, Barbara's are no-nonsense. When I met a woman named Priscilla at a Dallas bookstore, I told her that she was the first one I'd ever met. She said it was not a common name, and that she didn't like it. Oh, I told her, I've always thought that Priscilla's were willowy, gracious, and elegant. Yes, she said, straightening, that's me.

Me? Just call me Bill.