New Post
Search
HelpRe: Agree
in reply to a message by Llewella
But my question is, what is your goal by telling them? Having them change their child's name? Or just feel stupid about something that most people wouldn't even notice? I know it comes off as "dumb" to us, but who are we to say what people ought to name their children? I think naming a daughter McShaylee is dumb, but I wouldn't say to a mother with a child by that name "You know, that is a made up name with no history or meaning." My only goal in telling the mother that would be to show my superior taste in and knowledge of names. "Just so you know . . ." corrections just come off as name snobbery to me. Not saying I am not guilty of name snobbery myself because I certainly am and would definitely be thinking "Molly and Mary? Those are the same name!" in my head, but the difference is that I wouldn't say anything because I wouldn't have a worthwhile goal in doing so.
Again, it would be different if the woman were pregnant and said "I am thinking about naming my twins Molly and Mary," to which I would reply "Oh, those are both lovely names, but one thing to consider in choosing is that Molly is a form of Mary so the twins might feel their names are too similar." But once a child is here and named, I don't feel like I have a say because the name has already been given and unless I want to convince the parents to change the name of the child (which I would only do if it were truly inappropriate a la Tallulah-does-the-Hula-in-Hawaii), there's absolutely no reason, except to point out the parents' stupidity, to bring it up.
You're right that many people do not research names before choosing them, but is there really anything inherently wrong with that other than is makes us crazy? Ought I have approached the parents of the twins named Patrick and Patricia that I once met and told them to consider renaming their children because the similarity was driving me crazy? We may think that we have some sort of authority on naming, but our knowledge of names does not mean we should have a say in what other people name their children.
Again, it would be different if the woman were pregnant and said "I am thinking about naming my twins Molly and Mary," to which I would reply "Oh, those are both lovely names, but one thing to consider in choosing is that Molly is a form of Mary so the twins might feel their names are too similar." But once a child is here and named, I don't feel like I have a say because the name has already been given and unless I want to convince the parents to change the name of the child (which I would only do if it were truly inappropriate a la Tallulah-does-the-Hula-in-Hawaii), there's absolutely no reason, except to point out the parents' stupidity, to bring it up.
You're right that many people do not research names before choosing them, but is there really anything inherently wrong with that other than is makes us crazy? Ought I have approached the parents of the twins named Patrick and Patricia that I once met and told them to consider renaming their children because the similarity was driving me crazy? We may think that we have some sort of authority on naming, but our knowledge of names does not mean we should have a say in what other people name their children.
This message was edited 9/25/2009, 9:05 AM
Archived Thread - replies disabled
1