Journal

What’s in a name?

At 09:43 on Saturday the 16th of October, our son was born at the Vale of Leven hospital. Arriving one day ahead of schedule, he caught us on the hop a bit with regard to his name.

Although we’d had several months to come to a decision, we just couldn’t think of anything we were entirely sold on. I wanted to make sure we gave him a name that would set him apart, so he wouldn’t be one of the three kids with the same name in his nursery or school. At the same time, I wanted to avoid giving him a name that would seem old fashioned in ten years time.

This is harder than it might seem, as a lot of the time there doesn’t appear to be a clear reason for the rise and fall in the popularity of a name. Some will hover in the top 20 for decades at a time, while others have brief moments of favour before dropping into obscurity.

Continue Reading