Introduction: What’s in a name?

A good name is better than precious ointment…

– Ecclesiastes 7: 1

If a good name is better than precious ointment, what then is a bad name?

Is it more like rubbing salt into a wound?

How do you think your childhood experiences and your subsequent life would have gone if you had a name like:

Ima Hog

Ure A. Pigg

Attracta Mann

John Willfail

Annette Curtain

Alice Crabgrass

Mary Cutter-Bolsorf

Lo Fat

Duckworth Byrd

Luscious Easter

Nora Bumbak

Susan Eatwell Burpitt?

These are all names which parents have imposed on their children. Not exactly precious ointment

At the other extreme are Bill Smith, Mary Jones, Jane Brown – all named to be as average as possible.

In tribal societies, the naming of a child was often given its rightful place of importance by being made the responsibility of the person considered the most spiritually-aware person in the tribe – the priest, the shaman or the chief. Even now, relics of this tradition remain in the Christian baptism service.

Nowdays few parents have the support of shamans. Generally, the only support most parents have is a ‘baby name book’. Such books can tell you what a name used to mean but, in fact, no longer means.

This book can support you considerably more than that. It can help you find a name which is uniquely right for your child.

 ‘What’s in a name?’ asked Shakespeare’s Juliet, ‘That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’

The girl’s name ‘Rose’ didn’t originate from the name for a flower; it has the same archaic root as the boy’s name ‘Ross’ – from ‘Hros’ meaning ‘Horse’.

I don’t think too many modern-day parents would be too keen on calling their daughter ‘Horse’.

A Rose by any other name is a Horse…

What’s in a name?

A lot.

Naming tips

1.    Approach name-creation with a sense of fun.
Why not look at the processes suggested in this book as being games? They are ways of throwing up possibilities. Do not get trapped into judging every idea as soon as it comes up. This could result in a brain-freeze.
2.    Avoid having long first names and surnames together
If you have a long surname (with three syllables or more), avoid having a long first name. The combination rarely seems to flow and the result is a terrible mouthful such as Engelbert Humperdink (who changed his name from Arnold Dorsey).
3.    You don’t have to make a definitive decision before the baby is born.
Sometimes it helps to have more than one alternative in mind. Then, with the birth of the baby, the right name can fall into place. Having said that, it is not a good idea to wait more than a few days to name your newborn child. The baby needs to be anchored to this existence by a name.
4.    You are NOT naming a baby or a child.
You are actually naming an adult who will be a baby and child for only a few years.
5.    If you have had tests done, find out the sex.

It is a wonderful thing to be able to acknowledge the sexual identity of a child while it is still in the womb. I am constantly amazed by parents who want to be ‘surprised’ by the sex at birth. You are not having a baby in order to be surprised. If you want surprises, go to a horror film.

A real-life story. Friends discussed with me the naming their unborn child. The mother asked the doctor not to tell her the sex – she wanted it to be a mystery. They shared with me the possible name of Clair should it be a girl. It seemed the right name to me. I looked forward to hearing about the healthy birth of Clair. I saw them some weeks after the birth and they still hadn’t named the child. They were still in shock that it was a girl. Both father and mother had gone through the entire pregnancy convinced the child was male. I encouraged them to call her Clair as soon as possible. Eventually they did name her Clair.

So much for the value of a surprise.

Isn’t it a gift to be able to refer to your child by his or her sex even before she or he is born?

With these preliminaries out of the way, we’re off on the adventure of naming. All you need is paper, pen, this book and an open mind.

Table of Contents

 Introduction: What’s in a name?

Naming tips

Chapter One: Receiving names

The Channel

Using The Channel to help name your baby

Visioning an ideal name

Spiritual Names

On the value of unique names

Chapter Two: Famous name-creators and how they did it  

Change of spelling and pronunciation

Cutting out part of the old name

Using a middle name

Transposing names

Mother’s maiden name

Adopting a nickname

Naming yourself after someone you like or admire

Naming yourself after a quality you admire

Naming yourself after a place or thing you admire

Some really useful tips on names

Chapter Three: Creating unique names 

Change of spelling and pronunciation

Common tactics in changing spelling and pronunciation

Making a name more feminine

Cut-out names

Telescoping of two names

American Indians and names

Chapter Four: Creating meaningful names 

Step One: Find a quality you are attracted to

Step Two: Play with the word

A simple example

Syllable reversal

Telescoping

Chapter Five: Creating surnames 

Surnames and given names are highly interchangeable

Surname suffixes

Surname prefixes

A surname from a first name

A surname from a quality you’re attracted to

Some final thoughts on surnames

Remember: Keep an open mind

Chapter Six: Ways to check a name

The initials of the name

Numerology and names

The archaic meaning of the name

Muscle-testing (Kinesiology)

Decoding names

Good luck and have fun!

Bibliography

Reviews