After a lengthy absence I've written a response to the 100 Word Challenge over at Julia's Place. The prompt this week is:
Ruby
(in honour of its 40th week).
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| From Google Images |
I know siblings called Ruby and Reuben. Also Danny and Andy. Nadia and Diana? Passable. On the whole I'd avoid naming your children in sets like the best china.
Conversely, it's unfair to call one Gabriella Isabella Amber Rose and the other Sue. But two sisters called Isabella and Gabriella invites the question: And where is Salmonella?
Made-up names are in but nobody remembers them so Dlaybard and Jogaryll are out.
Biblical names? Solid but don't inflict Job or Jezebel.
Anything from nature is acceptable (well not grub or sap, obviously).
For further advice on naming baby contact Yentl-Magot@sensiblenames.com (pronounced Majeaux).
you made me laugh! Thank you.Great piece.
ReplyDeleteGilly
Thanks Gilly - as you were reading this I was reading your poem by Ted Hughs. Your post was rather more high-brow methinks :).
DeleteIn my family two of us have annoyingly exotic names and the middle child has a plain biblical name. I'm not sure who is better off!
ReplyDeleteI thought you were called Cathy. Where did I get that idea from? How does the middle child feel about his/her name? I find names a fascinating subject.
ReplyDeleteI'm often called Cathy, because people mishear my real name :) As for my brother, I will ask him and get back to you x
DeleteAh I see. As the middle child is male it may not bother him. I think it would bother a girl more. Interesting though.
DeleteThis was fun and made me smile. Good advise though - people really should think carefully about naming their children - celebrities take note!
ReplyDeleteI always wonder why e.g. Heather or Fern is acceptable but Willow is a celebrity stupid name. In the end it's just what we're used to I think.
DeleteI don't mind Willow - quite pretty for a girl (wouldn't like it for a boy) - but some celeb names really are stupid: Moon Unit, Prince Michael II, Jermajesty and Junior. Ok, that last one sounds quite reasonable compared to the rest of the list, but imagine how daft it's going to sound when he's in his 40s...
DeleteMy favourite part " But two sisters called Isabella and Gabriella invites the question: And where is Salmonella?"
ReplyDeleteI took a risk there. dangerously close to two sisters I know :).
DeleteIn my family 3 of us have very unusual names and one is named David. Guess which name I gave when making reservations at a restaurant?!
ReplyDeleteI know a few people who have restaurant-reservation names which are a simplified version of their real names. Good job you have a David.
DeleteExcellent Midlife - amusing, interesting and a change to read something that isn't a 'story'!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dancing, funnily enough I tried for a long time to make it into a story but I couldn't find a way.
DeleteClever take on it. I remember being baffled by the parents of the man who cropped up week after week on our church sick list. They'd called him Thomas Thomas.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder he was sick.
Deletethe father of footballers Gary Neville and Phil Neville is (you've guessed it) Neville Neville !!
DeleteReally great, and alot of fun! So true. Baby names are a mine field. Little A's name I think is very straightforward. Made up names and celebrity names are usually pretty useless.
ReplyDeleteI also have an A which is unusual in Israel and unheard of inEngland - but sounds very pretty so people don't mind so much.
DeleteDon't give your kid a name that was popular a generation or two ago. I do not feel grateful to my parents for giving me a "Grandma" name.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Sophie used to be a Grandma name and now it is totally back in style. But please, tread carefully. My name is still a "Grandma" name (and I'm afraid it always will be).
I have a friend who was called Freda. She hated it so much she changed it and now I think it's a lovely name - it reminds me of fresh fjords (might be the ABBA connection). My name is Rachel so that must be a Grandma name by now but still acceptable. Some names last like Elisabeth.
DeleteHa this is a great take on the prompt. Salmonella!? A teacher colleague told me the other day they had a child at their school called Clamidia (Oh dear!) whilst another told us he had to talk his wife out of calling their son "John Thomas" lol.
ReplyDeleteA very good friend of mine's first name is Ruby and she hates it, always having used her middle name.
Great to see you back again :O) Missed your pieces.
Thanks Anna. LOL at Clamidia although it does sound quite posh really.
DeleteI like it! This weeks prompt led me down the name route too... http://ju-musings-on-life.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/ruby.html
ReplyDeleteRushing over to read yours now... well soon, after baths, supper, stories, bed...
Deletehaha kinda like my predicament at the moment for choosing baby names :P love it x
ReplyDeleteSuch a responsibility isn't it? Sometimes I try other names on DD to see what it would have been like if I'd chosen differently (only in my head though - I don't want to confuse her).
DeleteClever. I named my two Tom and Jenny - never saw it coming!
ReplyDeleteLol - you can't think of everything.
DeleteSummer is popular I have noticed. I have recently encountered a variation on this...Summah. Hmm. You just have to pronounce it with an Essex accent, really, don't you??
ReplyDeleteSeasons, days and months are interesting in that some are acceptable and other not. why can you be called Summer, Tuesday or April but not Spring, Wednesday or November?
DeleteA very perceptive piece - I'd not looked at names in that way before. Made me smile. As did some of the comments. :)
ReplyDeleteThe comments make any post twice a s interesting. I love the comments. Thanks for commenting too.
DeleteLove your post! I would also urge parents to choose 1 or 2 names. Unlike my parents creative mix: Alisa Cherie Anne Marie Thomson!
ReplyDeleteBut you have the best nickname I've ever heard.
DeleteHa love this post ! Must admit to struggling with the names of our children. Because we have a plain surname (boring old Jones) We wanted something different but which hopefully wouldn't become common *cough* I mean *popular* So far we are succeeding but time will tell. When I named my eldest son Jacob 17 years ago there were hardly any Jacobs about. Now there are skillions : (
ReplyDeleteI always imagined your boys to be little rahter than teenagers. I love the name jacob - it was one of my choices for a boy.
DeleteSo funny, I shouldn't laugh so much but Salmonella, you can just see that happening can't you!
ReplyDeleteYes, or just calling them Fluffyella and Frillyella. I wish I'd had more tha 100 words... ;)
Deletei know a couple who named their sons shai, ilai and itai. shai and ilai, ok - but ilai and itai? what were they thinking?!
ReplyDeletealso - your daughter and my son have the same name, and a friend of mine whose son also has the same name told me one of his friends asked him "so how is b.l. doing" and he was totally bemused, till he got it. now think about it. add bl to the beginning of DD's name, and what does it sound like?! i never thought of that!!
I wouldn't have thought of that in a million years. I thought DDs name was foolproof. Oh well. I knew an Israeli family with three girls calls Idit, Nurit and Galit. We used to call them Pack it, Stamp it and Send it.
DeleteThis gave me a giggle! It's interesting, as friends and family have kids, how they come up with names. I'm always surprised because the name they choose is never the name I imagined they would pick. Hmmmmm...
ReplyDeleteAnd sometimes I hate a name until I get to know tha child and, assuming it's a pleasant child, the name becomes ok.
DeleteWould you believe me when I say I know brothers called Jamie and Oliver? And sisters called Charlotte and Lola?
ReplyDeleteHilarious! You've pin-pointed a whole new genre. How about David and Camaron? Margeret and Thatcher. Victoria and Albert. harry and Potter. This is such fun but I think I'll stop. Thank you.
DeleteCameron and Margaret of course *ahem*
DeleteVery funny! My particular no-no is people who give their children surnames for first names - Bailey, Taylor, Harrison ... (apologies to anyone I've just offended!) Or how about Ramsbottom?
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean - I think it's a snob thing so that your boys sound like they are all permanently at a posh boys' school.
DeleteNice piece. We didn't think about fashions. Our daughter got rid of her name. (I'd better not say what it was.)
ReplyDeleteThanks Miriam. I think it's esoecailly difficult if you move to another culture. Hebrew names that I thought were pretty (e.g Hadassah and Shulamit) I have learned are really old fashioned and consodered to be old lady names.
Delete*especially, sorry - must proof read.
Deletelol love this piece. So fun and light x
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan - it's one of my hobbies examining the names people choose. May be that's why DD has three first names (we only use the first).
DeleteOh, my gosh, this conundrum! What fun, though it's often harrowing for parents to do. (We named our girls in a "set" of two, but at least they don't sound like china!) :)
ReplyDeleteLOL - I meant that you have sets of china not that the names sound like the names of china. I'm dying to know what you named your girls now ;).
DeleteNames are such a LIFELONG thing! LOL! At our home, we ended up with first names that begin "A" (the name I go by), "B" (my oldest child), "C" (our second child), "D" (my husbands name), "E" (our third child)! I used to joke that we had to stop because there were no names that began with "F" that would fit our family! :) What a delightful take on the prompt. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lorraine. let me know if you need any help in the future - Felicity, Fiona, Frank, Fauntleroy...
ReplyDeleteHaha! :D Name etiquette from Yentl-Magot, well, it doesn't get much better! Very funny.
ReplyDeleteAt last! You are the first person to mention that. I thought it was the funniest thing about the whole piece but no one else seemed to pick up on it. I even thought of writing myself a comment about it. Thank you my soul-mate in humour :).
DeleteLol - respect!
DeleteIt was the pronunciation guide, "Majeaux," that really cracked me up!
DeleteWhere have you been all my life?
DeleteWell this was fun & made me grateful that although I'm not a fan of my name, it could have been worse! I would love to understand the 'Yentl-Magot line but .....!
ReplyDeleteIt's just a ridiculously silly name with a pretentious pronunciation which makes you wonder about her giving out advice on baby names and even having an email domain called sensible names. Either she's oblivious or she's offering this service after years of suffering herself.
DeleteI forgot to say, I think Julia is a very pretty name - I bet it comes back into fashion one of these days.
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