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That's Life: A Child by Any Other Name ...By Phyllis McGuire - June 11, 2008
iBerkshires Columnist
I do not own a crystal ball nor do I possess psychic powers, but I believe there will be a baby boom in the entertainment world.
I base my prediction on the fact that a lot of Hollywood luminaries have died of late.
On a personal level, I have known many families who have welcomed a new baby into the world shortly after they had suffered the loss of a loved one.
If parents are devoted followers of the Jewish faith, it is necessary that their newborn's name be based on a Hebrew one that appears in the Bible. But mother/daughter and son/father cannot have the same given name. Ashkenazi Jews, descendants from the medieval Jewish communities in the Rhineland — the western region of Germany — honor the dead by naming their offspring after them.
The Chinese believe children's success is determined by their names. Studies conducted in the field of education here in the United States may well give credence to that belief, as teachers gave lower marks to students who had certain names than to other students who had produced the same quality work.
 St. Joan of Arc |
For people of the Catholic faith, rules regarding the name given to a child in the rite of baptism have been relaxed. So, parents are no longer required to name their offspring after saints.
Thus nowadays you may hear parents who adhere to the rules of the Catholic Church, calling out to their child, "Chalets, don't pull the dog's tail," or "Samantha, come here so I can tie your shoe lace," "Cayman, come back, you forgot your schoolbooks."
On my birth certificate, my name was recorded as Eleanor, which was the name of my mother's maid of honor, but a few weeks later I was baptized Phyllis. I suppose Mother and Father must have reconsidered when they decided that, as their third daughter, I should be the last of their offspring. In other words, they gave up hope of ever producing a boy. So, I was named after my father, Philip.
If I had my druthers, I would have been known as Amy or Jeanette. At the age of 16, I did take Jeanette as my confirmation name, which made my name a mouthful — Phyllis Eleanor Jeanette.
Some parents who want to give their children unusual names, combine their own names or peruse books in search of something out of the ordinary.
When actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her spouse, Chris Martin, named their first child Apple, I wondered if they would call a second child Pear. If they became parents to as many children as there were in the television series of yesteryear "The Brady Bunch," would they end up with a fruit salad? Well, the couple answered my question two years ago, naming their second offspring Moses.
It took months for me to get used to my first grandchild's name, Alyssa. You know, should I spell it Alisa, Alisha, Allica or Allyssa? My daughter, Jennifer, explained that she had taken a fancy to that name when she had watched the TV sitcom "Who's the Boss," which featured a young Alyssa Milan.
According to a report the Social Security Center released in May, Emily is the most popular girl's name for the 12th year and, for the ninth year, Jacob is the favorite among boys' names.
 Jennifer Jones
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When selecting a name for a child, parents may consider with what nickname he or she may be dubbed. My mother cautioned me that people would call my daughter Jenny, which she thought of as "an old lady's name." But for me, it brought to mind the young, sweet-faced character Jenny, portrayed by Jennifer Jones in the movie "Portrait of Jenny."
Speaking through the character Juliet that he created for the play "Romeo and Juliet," William Shakespeare said, "What's in a name. That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet." How true.
And more important than what we name our children is that we give them unconditional love. |
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