What's in a name?
When Juliet asked this question in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet she answered herself: 'That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet'.
But when it comes to naming babies, most people would disagree. The poet John Keats felt that he had been unlucky: 'If you should have a boy do not christen him John—'Tis a bad name and goes against a man. If my name had been Edmund I should have been more fortunate.' The novelist Graham Greene agreed: 'There is a magical quality in names—to change the name is to change the character'.
Lewis Carroll's Humpty Dumpty did not think much of the name Alice 'With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost', while 'Colin is the sort of name you give your goldfish for a joke' according to the actor Colin Firth.
Choosing a name can be very difficult. The actress Carmen Ejogo offered some explanations for hers: 'One theory is that I was named after the opera and the other that my mum was sitting in her boudoir wondering what to call me and glanced at her Carmen rollers. I prefer the Bizet theory'. And friends are not always encouraging. When Arthur Hornblow informed the film producer Sam Goldwyn that he was planning to name his son Arthur, Goldwyn unhelpfully replied: 'Every Tom, Dick and Harry is called Arthur'.
If you are seeking a more original name, you could follow the example of the celebrity Jordan, herself originally named Katie Price. She explained that the name of her daughter, Princess Tiáamii, derived from the names of the baby's two grandmothers, Thea and Amy: 'We've put an accent over the first 'a' to make it a bit more exotic, and two 'i's at the end just to make it look a bit different'.
To help you find the ideal name, why not go to the new edition of Babies' Names? Not only does it include over 2,500 names both traditional and modern, but for those who want individuality, it gives guidance on how to create a name of your own.
Click here for more details and information on how to order.
Susan Ratcliffe
21/01/2010
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