Archives for January 2006

So this morning I was in my usual routine of checking my e-mail. I delete the junk mail first, read the personal e-mails next, then read those that are weekly newsletters. Reading today’s BabyCenter newsletter, my jaw dropped to my knees and I thought I would have to wash my eyes out with bleach to erase what I saw. What could be so horrible?

This list of “truly inspired” baby names. It’s a list of real – yes, real – names that people who use BabyCenter named their kids this past year.

Some of the winners include: God’Iss, X’Zavier, Legolas, Banana (I guess they were upset Apple was taken), Zurich, Tigger, Google, and Ce’Qwoia. And those aren’t the worst, people. Read the article link to see the entire damned list.

The article actually says:

Revamp a classic name with a little punctuational flair. We dig these very creative apostrophe-enhanced spellings from 2005.

They dig them? Are they crazy?

I don’t understand this new trend with adding apostrophes to names. I rolled my eyes when C’s and K’s were interchanged, and laughed only a little with the rush of girls with names starting with “Mc” (as a person of Irish decent, I have to inform you that the prefix “Mac” or “Mc” means “son of”). When names started appearing with Y’s in places they shouldn’t be (like Iryland, Madyson, or Jennyfyr), I only made fun of them in quiet with friends.

But apostrophes? Since when did punctuation become an acceptable addition to names? Are these people plural? Will backslashes and commas be next? Or will it be question marks? I can just see kids walking around named AreYouMyDaddy? and Unique?. Perfect for those parents who like a touch of sarcasm in their children’s names.

I know some people want their children to have unique names. I’ll even admit to it: our daughter’s name, Cordelia, is certainly not one of the usual names. But at least it’s a name with a history. It’s a made-up name, but it was made up over 400 years ago by a guy named Shakespeare, and it was a common name in Victorian times. Even Anne of Green Gables wanted to be named Cordelia.

It was a derivative of “coeur du lion” – the nickname for Richard I of England (the Lionheart). Change it to a feminine form, add in the Elizabethan bad spelling, and you get Cordelia – heart of the lioness. What meaning is there behind the name Banana, other than “an elongated, yellow fruit”.

And for those with little literary background who can’t place the Shakespeare play that Cordelia is in, I will also add: no, she wasn’t named for the character on Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.

But some of these weird names are too far out there. What kind of life are these parents dooming their children to? Do you think there will ever be a President Ce’Qwoia or Chief Justice Buttercup? How can you be taken seriously as a CEO of a business with the name Cookie?

I’ve heard the argument that some kids are named a certain way to prevent them from being one of many “Jennifers” in a class in school. But I already know of teachers who are dealing with 3-4 Madison, Maddison, and Maddysen’s in their class. They’re all pronounced the same; so much for being unique.

If you want to see even more scary names, check out Baby’s Named A Bad, Bad Thing. While I don’t always agree with her assessment of some names, her commentary is certainly amusing.

All I’m saying is please, please give some thought to the future of your children when naming them. Many names may sound cute for a baby, but when they’re older, how will those names serve them in the real world?

It’s two days into the new year, and I finally have some resolutions. They didn’t come to me on New Year’s Eve. That evening was spent in the good company of two couples we get to see far too little of, and I didn’t think planning resolutions was a useful way to spend our time together.

Nevertheless, I did finally think of a few resolutions. Well, not so much resolutions – more like a checklist of things I’d like to accomplish for 2006. Writing them out here will help me to remember what it is I said I’d do, and I will be more likely to hold myself accountable. A few of them are also joint efforts, but I’ve already told Aaron we’re doing them, and he’s on board.

2006 Goals:

** Improve our finances – Living paycheck to paycheck isn’t fun, and this last year has shown us just how good we had it before. While I have no intentions of quitting my part-time job in favor of a full-time job, I do plan to try other ways to add a little extra to our income. EBay has always been good to us, and I might finally get the nerve to write a few articles and submit them to magazines for publishing. Aaron, for his part, will continue looking for a new job. His current job vastly underpays him, and they’ve made it clear that the company could be sold at any minute. When your boss advises employees to start sending out resumes, you know it’s time to move on.

** Pay off credit card debt – There was a time in my life, many years ago, when I had amassed a crazy amount of credit card debt. I was young, foolish, and had expensive taste. About the time I received my lovely college diploma, I also was handed a credit card bill for just over $10,000, and I had no job. It’s amazing how fast it can sneak up on you. After working hard for many years, Aaron and I got our debts paid off (other than student loans, of course), and starting 2005 we were credit debt free. Now we’re back to over $5,000 on the cards. Time to get working on them again.

** Spend more time with our childless friends – Last Friday I got the chance to do dinner and a movie with one of my best friends that I haven’t seen in months. We spent the night gabbing and laughing and had such a good time. I miss that so much. It’s not like we live that far away – she’s just on the other side of town. But sometimes I get so caught up with Cordy and my “mommy life” that I forget about those outside the Parent Club. I want to see more of my friends, even if it means tempting them with dinners or rented movies to come to our house and hang out.

** Lose some more baby weight – OK, I know losing weight is the #1 resolution, and the most likely to fail. But I’m determined. I wasn’t one of those “9 months on, 9 months off” women – apparently my metabolism never got the message on how it’s supposed to go. I lost weight during most of my pregnancy, was at my starting weight when I gave birth, and then gained 20 pounds 4 months later and haven’t been able to banish it yet. I don’t want to be a fat mommy.

** Grow some nails – This one’s petty, but needed. Never in my life have I had pretty nails. My confession: I’ve been a nervous nail biter/peeler since I was about 5. Even for my wedding, when I managed to do other things to my body to make it look just right for that big day, I couldn’t muster the willpower to save my nails and wore gloves instead. Maybe I can finally be proud of my hands, instead of curling my fingers when I see most people.

** Stand my ground when faced with poor customer service – There have been far too many times that I have been treated badly at a restaurant, in a store, or when dealing with customer service on the phone. I’m not talking about getting a hamburger medium well instead of medium rare; I mean more serious things, like being cheated out of $200 in cell phone rebates because we moved. Instead of meekly dealing with their treatment in an effort to not make waves, I will complain when I see the need to complain, and not back down until there is an acceptable resolution.

We’ll see if I can handle this large list of demands I’m placing on myself. But I think it’s gonna be a good year, so hopefully next year at this time I’ll be able to proudly proclaim that I accomplished all of my goals. Or I just won’t say anything and hope that no one remembers reading this post.