The All-Important Baby Name Quest

Ever since I met Erin and we knew we would be spending our lives together, I've pestered her with baby name suggestions that, in all honesty, were mentioned solely to annoy her. You really can't blame me, the look on her face when she pretends to be angry and mutters "Brett Ray Garner!!!" is absolutely adorable. Of course, now that we're actually expecting a baby I feel like it's time for me to get a little more serious and actually put some thought behind my suggestions. So here goes.


Suggested Name #1 - Anteros; Gender-Male; Origin-Greek Mythology
The reasons here are obvious to anyone (i.e. all 17 people in the world) who are really, really, really familiar with Greek Mythology. Anteros is the Greek God of Reciprocal Love (a trait not undesirable in a child) and was the son of Aphrodite (Goddess of Love and Beauty, not unlike Erin) and Ares (God of War... okay so I know that one's a bit of a stretch).

Suggested Name #2 - 親切; Gender-Female; Origin-Japanese for "Kindness"
While it's true that I have no idea how to even pronounce this name and roll-call in school would undoubtedly be a nightmare, I don't think that should deter us from using this name. People frequently give their children names that mean something in another language (my friend Esperanza for example, her name means "hope"). Granted, any name that I've seen in this pattern has retained the usage of romanic languages/alphabets and relative pronouncability, but that's what truly will make this child’s name unique.

Suggest Name #3 - Anonymous; Gender-Either; Origin-derived from Greek anonymos "without a name"
Don't let the etymology of the word put you off, naming the child Anonymous would definitively negate the root meaning of this name. And there are actually a lot of benefits to this name. First off, we could get started on embroidering blankets and onesies with the baby's name long before we know the gender (11 weeks till then!!!). Also, (in my opinion) the greatest benefit to using this name is the vast amount of literary and artistic works that our child could claim as his/her own. The Arabian Nights - written by Anonymous; Beowulf - written by Anonymous; The Epic of Gilgamesh - written by Anonymous, that cute poem that's running the email circuit - written by Anonymous. We'd have an instantly famous child-prodigy on our hands; I’m convinced… this is the right name. Now all I have to do is convince Erin.

Labels: baby

posted by Brett at 2:00 PM