Naming Our Children

A while ago, Wil of Reader Wil wrote a post about how different cultures name their children.  My mother has always told me how she wasn't exactly thrilled about how I was named.  Apparently, while she was unconscious after giving birth to me two months prematurely, my father's family took it upon themselves to name me without consulting her.  She was only 19 with no family of her own here in Hawaii. 

Mom says my Aunt Sally thought Kay would be good because it was short since my last name was so long.  She said it was a beautiful name because it was a diminutive of Katherine.  My guess is they were probably thinking Katherine Hepburn.  Since Aunt Sally is supposed to be the brains in the family, I think they all figured she must be right.

I was unhappy with my name when I was young because you couldn't do anything cute with it.  For a while there, some friends were turning it around and calling me "Yak."  OK... maybe I talked too much.

You can imagine my surprise when I discovered Art's sister's name was Kay too.  I thought that was great even though people called her Kay Ann.  I still don't know why.

When our children were born,  I was determined that they would have longer names to play with.  Art and I struggled with choosing a name that would embody characteristics that would make our children happy.  We were really enchanted with Tiffany glass in the 70's.  We loved all the gorgeous colors and Art was attempting to make his own Tiffany lamp.  He never did finish that project, but we named our daughter after the beautiful glass.

I wonder if that's why Tif had an affection for the store of that name.  For their wedding cake (as a joke), you'll notice the cake was in the shape of Tiffany boxes.  I always shorten Tiffany's name to Tif because I don't like the fact that Tiff means a little fight.  Tif never likes to fight.  She is usually a conciliator.

Art and Jon at the top of Kilimanjaro

We named Jonathan after Jonathan Livingston Seagull.  When we told him that we named him after the bird, he was not thrilled.  However, when I read the story to him, he was very pleased.  He's been living up to his name also, striving to stretch his wings as far as they will take him.  Frankly, it drives me crazy.  He's broken both his arms as a child and gone everywhere around the world.  I would like him to stay put in one place and lead a "normal" life.

Sigh....

I guess  you can name your children, but you can't control them.

Oh, and about my name... now that I've met other bloggers named Kay, I rather like it!