Sunny Side Up Feb. 23, 2005 �2004, Kathleen Gibson Understanding the name at the top My daughter and son-in-law have already chosen a name for their unborn baby - and they're not telling the Preacher and I. (I'll get over it, don't worry.) But my curiosity knows no bounds� So I did some research on the popularity of English names over the last 100 years. Mary and John rank highest overall. In the decade of my birth 'Kathleen' ranked fifteenth most popular among names for girls. The Preacher's ranked seventh among boys'. Often parents of new babies choose names for their popularity and familiarity, rather than their originality. I experienced the results of that recently, when I attended a meeting where three of us - yes, three - out of about ten shared the exact same name: Kathleen with a K. It was a little like attending a party and finding the dress you so carefully chose on several other women. Unwittingly, the Preacher and I repeated the pattern. We chose our children's names for their meanings, believing them to be uncommon. We found out years later that those names too, proved among the most popular of the time. "There were four kids there with my name, Mom." I often heard. And at church people ask, "Which Amanda do you mean? Amanda T., Amanda S., or Amanda B.?" Years of scenes like that have attracted me to unusual names. Names like Bronwyn, and Fairlee, Rudyard and Miriamni. If I wrote fiction I'd choose a name like that for one of my characters. Once I authored a sensitive article that required me to use a pseudonym. I had the pleasure of choosing it myself. I didn't choose Mary or John. Some names, however, go beyond unusual. In any century, they're unlikely to make the top 'one thousand most popular' list. I met a woman in India named Fly. Years ago a friend's daughter named her newborn Treason. And on my last flight to Ontario I sat beside an engaging blue-haired, multi-pierced young lady named Tree. "No, it's not a nickname," she told me, when my eyebrows went up. "That's the name my parents gave me when I was born." She had no idea why they chose it, but she loves her name. It's opened doors. Taken her places. And I've heard that Treason, about the same age as Tree, has achieved brilliant things. Perhaps those most unusual names smooth life's way sometimes. After I finished my research, I typed in another name. Just for fun, to stump the computer. This came back: "Sorry, 'God' has never been a top 1000 name�" I chuckled and thought about the deeper irony. True, people don't name their babies 'God', but that name, used often as merely an expletive, represents the C. E. O. of the universe. Someone real, accessible, and knowable. Amanda and Kendall already know their baby's name. One day soon they'll meet the character behind it and they'll love that child like crazy. It's the same with God. When you finally know him, you'll find you just can't stop loving him. |