Tag Archives: name advice

Interview with Cristina from Once Upon a Time Baby Names

03 Sunday Mar 2013

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castle 1Cristina began her successful blog A Baby Name Per Day in 2011, and recently rebooted it as Once Upon a Time Baby Names. Her blog is devoted to rare, unusual and beautiful names, and each entry for a name gives a detailed description of its meaning, history and level of usage. There is also plenty of naming advice, and if you are searching for a less common name, or even a one-of-a-kind name, this is an essential blog to follow.

What is your name?

Cristina Mariane.

Your blog celebrates unusual names, but your own name isn’t that rare. How do you feel towards it?

I liked my name up until I was about ten years old. Around that age I discovered the meaning of my name, and I haven’t liked it since, due to the religious meaning. I think I was also jealous of the girls who didn’t share their name with another girl (or more) in the same class. Now I’ve come to accept that this is the name which was meaningful to my parents, and it was picked out of the family tree. But it does go against most of the criteria I’d use for my own children.

Have you ever wished you had a different name?

I would briefly wish I had been named something more exotic (imagine when I went to Italy and met a girl my age named Chiara). I pushed hard for people to call me Nina in high school, which was a play on the last syllable of my name and my grandmother’s nickname, Marianina, and it stuck with everyone but my family. I still prefer Nina, but I introduce myself to strangers as Cristina. I also wished my parents had gone with Elena or Domenica from our family tree instead.

Would you ever consider changing your name in the future?

No, I’m too old now, and I’ve already gone through one legal name change to get married.

When did you first start getting interested in names?

I began writing stories for fun in middle school [approximately grades 6-8], and reading became an important hobby. I would get inspired by the names in my favorite books, like Zenobia in Ethan Frome [by Edith Wharton]. Having to come up with names for my own stories, I started buying baby name books and researching names online.

What inspired you to begin a name blog?

The blog was a spur of the moment decision, , mostly out of frustration. When you go to big name sites, you expect their information to be accurate and detailed. So when I found information that wasn’t correct and almost never any statistics for names outside the top 1000, I thought maybe I could do it better. Unfortunately, I’m still light years away from my goal of covering 20,000+ names the way those big sites do.

You’ve recently changed your blog’s name, and given it a makeover (which looks fantastic, by the way). What was the reason behind that?

Thank you! I had been writing A Baby Name Per Day for about two years, but not writing every day as the titled suggested. The title also didn’t hint at what I was covering, which was mostly unusual, forgotten names. While looking at my most popular post, names from the TV show Once Upon a Time, the new title of my site was right there, and it felt perfect. “Once Upon a Time” suggests the names are from long ago, but it can also suggest the beginning of a story, as in a baby’s story, or a writer’s story.

Do you have a favourite blog entry on Once Upon a Time, or one that you are especially proud of?

There’s a few names that I’m really proud of for highlighting that really deserved more attention, like Belphoebe, Plumeria, Gwyneira and Samhain. Zenobia is still probably my favourite though.

Do you have any other blogs?

I have a Facebook page for Once Upon a Time Baby Names, but I also write a home decorating blog called Little House Well Done.

Do you have any pet naming peeves?

Oh gosh yes. While the boy-names-on-girls (specifically -son names) has been bothering me less, it still bugs me when parents choose a spelling that is completely unlike the original name. There’s no reason to spell Elizabeth as Alyzybith. It sets the kid up for a lifetime of “No, it’s spelled like this.” I’m also not a fan of names that are too cutesy, like Princess, Baby or Sugar, because babies turn into adults, and adults have to get serious jobs.

What are your favourite names?

Some of my favourites at the moment (that I would actually consider for my kids) are Auriella, Sabina, Jilliana, Calixta, Ursulina/Ursula, Calluna, Calliandra, Attalia, and Umbrielle. I obviously have a thing for frilly names and the letter U. For boys, I’ve had a top three for years and very little interest in anything else, but Casper, Alasdair, Archer, Cyprian and Hadrian have caught my eye.

What names do you dislike?

It’s a long list, but it mainly boils down to names that weren’t given much thought. Names taken off celebrities, celebrity babies, out of movies (Renesmee), copy-cat names (the sea of Bellas), made up, mis-spelled, spelled backwards, and those that are overly aspirational, like Destiny, Passion and Sincere.

Are there any names you love, but can’t use?

My last name makes B names impossible, and anything with a Z or a soft G. Which is unfortunate, because I really love Ginevra, Geneva, Zenira, Benicia, and Bohemia. I also like some names that I would have a hard time using, such as Crystalina and Jemima (thank you, Aunt Jemima [a syrup company in the US]).

What is your favourite name in the US Top 1000? What about the Top 100?

I like quite a few names in the top 1000, most of the time because I grew up with people with those names. I really like Emma, Raina, Gemma, Tabitha, Sophie, Gabrielle, and Jennifer. For boys, I like average Joe names (including Joe) such as Andrew, Sam, Tony, and Ryan. But I also like Blake, Orion, Stefan, Archer and Flynn. Honestly, I can’t pick a favourite.

Do you have names picked out for your future children?

I have a static top three for boys: Evander, Caspian, Alaric. For girls, my style is really frilly, whimsical, and a bit clunky. I like exotic and forgotten names. My long time love is Caspera (going on six years), but new finds Auriella and Sabina are making me reconsider.

Does your husband have compatible tastes in names, or do you sometimes clash over baby names?

My husband does not like my taste in girl’s names. He says they’re strange or too foreign. He’s used to traditional, simple names like Amanda, Caitlin, and Stephanie. Thankfully we’re on the same page with my top three boys names and he’s okay with me picking any girl’s name I like.

What is something we don’t know about you?

I plan on going to graveyards this summer to hunt down rare names from the past.

What advice would you give to someone choosing a baby name?

I think parents should research names they’re interested in. Find out how many kids were given a name in the past year, ten years, etc. I hear so many people say If I had known how many kids she’d meet with the same name, I would have thought twice. Don’t be afraid to get obsessive, exhaust every possibility, search endlessly for “the one”.

Baby Name Dilemma: They Love a Name That Nobody Else Does

24 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by in Naming Assistance

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I recently received an e-mail from a father-to-be and blog-reader named Gabriel; technically I’m still on holiday, but this was urgent enough to bring me back early!

Gabriel and his wife Theresa are expecting a baby boy in only two weeks; unfortunately, the name they have picked out has met with a cool reception from family and friends.

The couple first met on Bondi Beach, and, like many Australians living near the coast, are strongly drawn to the ocean, which is cleansing and refreshing, and for a city-dweller especially, washes away the fatigue that comes from modern life. They want a name with a meaning connected to the beach and the sea. They are also very keen to use an Aboriginal Australian word for a name, feeling that this is a perfect way to honour their homeland.

They immediately fell in love with the idea of using Daku as a name. This is a name given to boys meaning “sand”, and apparently it is from one of the languages of north-west Western Australia. Not only did they love the sound of it, but the meaning seemed ideal. Not only did they meet and fall in love at the beach, but sand itself conveys the power of water, which gradually over millions of years wears down great rocks and boulders into fine grains. It therefore holds connotations of patience and persistence – qualities which they hope their son will learn to possess.

When they shared their choice with family and friends, others saw the name quite differently, and thought it was a choice which would lead to teasing. Basically their objections amounted to this:

  • Daku might be okay for a boy growing up in a hippie commune, but isn’t suitable for one growing up in a big city
  • It sounds like the phrase “dack you” – which in Australian slang, means that you are pulling someone’s pants down in a playful or spiteful manner
  • Daku is an Indian girl’s name, which could cause confusion further down the line
  • In Portuguese, daku is supposedly some sort of unsavoury slang (or maybe sounds similar to it)

Their families would much prefer a name which is clearly European and Christian – something along the lines of John, Paul, Daniel, or Xavier.

Gabriel and Theresa now have a dilemma on their hands: do they ignore everything their families and friends say and follow their hearts, or do they choose another name which will cause less controversy? With only a couple of weeks to go, they are starting to get a little stressed over it.

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Everyone has a particular bias in a debate, and I should declare mine straight away. I believe that it is the parents who get to choose their child’s name, not extended family, relatives, friends, or well-wishers.

I believe that loved ones have a perfect right to their own opinion, they have the right to (politely) make suggestions and share their concerns before the birth, and they have the right to be listened to respectfully. However, the final decision must lie with the parents.

Now you could take your story onto any name forum, and you will be able to find at least a dozen people who will advise you to just tell your family to butt out, shut up, and mind their own business in no uncertain terms, then move interstate so you don’t have to deal with them ever again. It’s easy advice to give, but I’m not sure it’s necessarily the best advice to follow.

For a start, obviously you love your family and don’t want to alienate them or cause a big family drama just as a baby is about to born and you need support more than ever. Second, occasionally the objections that family and friends offer have some validity, or make some sense. If you were planning to name your child Freddie Hoff or Penelope Ophelia Overton, a friendly hint might help you realise the mistake you were about to make. At the very least, they give you a taste of how others might see that name, and what response it could get. It’s better to have that information in advance.

As far as I can see, these are the choices the two of you have before you:

1. Go ahead with your original plan, and name your son Daku

Pros: You son will receive a name that you both love, and love hearing – moreover, a name which is a constant reminder of your love for each other. That’s incredibly special. You will have a wonderful story to share with your son when he asks, “Mum and dad, why did you call me Daku?” Maybe one day you can take him to Bondi and show him where his own unique life story and name story began, and when he hits a difficulty in life, perhaps you can show him the sand on the beach that he’s named after, and explain how it could only be made through the sea patiently grinding it down day after day, and never giving up.

Cons: Your family may not be happy with the choice you have made, or feel slighted that their dire warnings were not heeded. However, you have listened to everything they said and taken it on board, and you have also chosen his middle name, Rudolf, after Theresa’s father. You have pretty much already done your family duty. It’s not uncommon for family members to become reconciled or at least used to a “strange” name once they see it on their adorable grandson or nephew, and they may come up with their own pet name for him anyway.

I do feel that your family and friends have gone straight to the “worst case scenario” for the name, and some of their ideas are probably a little silly. I think Sydney is cosmopolitan enough to cope with the name Daku, and the slang issues seem a bit overboard to me.

“Dack you” is pretty dated slang now (although boys do seem to hang onto old slang more than girls), and in any case, most names sound a bit like something else. I find it hard to believe your son will suffer horribly because of his name, although naturally I can’t guarantee he will never be teased because of it. I must say that the name didn’t remind me of the phrase dack you.

The Portuguese slang term isn’t one I was able to find a reference to online, so doesn’t seem to be in general circulation. Unless you are planning to ship him to Portugal at some point, or you associate with many Portuguese people, perhaps this isn’t the big problem you fear.

Although Daku is a girl’s name in India, it’s a word and name used all over the world in many different cultures and in different contexts. In Japan it means “embrace, hug”; in Fiji it can mean “cousin”, and is also a place name; in Malay it means “I, me, myself”; in Hindi it can mean “bandit, pirate”; in Swahili it is related to the word “grasp, seize”; in ancient Sumerian it meant “executed”. It’s also a word in an invented language in the game World of Warcraft (no idea what it means).

When a word has this many meanings, it’s hard to get too worried if one or two are less pleasant than others. As well as a girl’s name, Daku is also a surname used all over the world, by people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.

Realistically, what you will face with the name Daku is people not being sure how to spell it or stumbling over the pronunciation. When your son is very small, people may be unsure whether he’s a girl or a boy. People will say, “What an unusual name! Where does it come from?”.

I’m pretty sure once you explain it’s an Australian Aboriginal name meaning “sand”, 90% of people will just go, “Oh right then”. 10% will be interested enough to ask for more information (Most likely, “Do you have any Aboriginal heritage?” or “Why did you choose it?”). I do feel once they know the origin and meaning, most criticism they may have offered will be quashed.

I know that parents who have chosen unusual names find that although they do sometimes get some aggressive or rude comments, they also find many people who say, “Oh that’s a fantastic name”, “It’s so different”, “What a great meaning” and so on. It does tend to stick in people’s memories. You don’t usually get this kind of attention and enthusiasm if your child’s name is Daniel or John.

2. Please your family by choosing a standard European-style name

Pros: Your son will have a name that blends right in with everyone else’s. People will know how to say it and spell it. He won’t be questioned about his background or his name. His name will be in a style which fits in with his family and community.

I’d love to be able to say that your family will appreciate your sacrifice forever and shower you with praise and devotion, but they probably won’t. They may secretly despise you for giving in; they may resent you for resisting them until the last minute; they may figure that if you caved in on such a big issue, you will always cave in on smaller ones; some of them may still dislike the name you choose. They may forget all about the disagreements during the pregnancy, and in ten years will assume his name was always going to be Paul. If you try to remind them what a sacrifice you made, they may roll their eyes about the “big fuss” you keep making about it.

Cons: He will miss out on hearing that wonderful name story. When he asks, “Why did you name me Xavier?” you will say, “We did have another name picked out, but ended up going with something your grandma liked. The name we chose was meant to inspire you to always be persistent; ironically, we didn’t persist with the idea”.

3: Pick another name that is similar to Daku, but causes less family friction

You did say that if your son had been a girl, he would have been named Iluka, an Aboriginal word and place name said to mean “by the sea”.

You may not have realised this, but in Australia Iluka is generally accepted as a male name. It’s usually listed as a boy’s name in baby name books (although giving it to a girl would be fine). Because it sounds like the popular boy’s name Luca, it’s often taken as a native elaboration of that name, and is given the nicknames Luke or Lukey.

Iluka has a similar sound, origin and meaning to Daku, but it might be something your family could accept more readily, as it sounds like popular names Luca, Lucas and Luke, and has the same nicknames as them.

If you were worried about using a name you were reserving for a future sister, there are many, many pretty sea-oriented names for girls from Aboriginal languages.

If you were feeling very bold, you could give either a son or a daughter the name Bondi, which means “the sound of water breaking over rocks”. It’s one I saw given to a baby girl in the Bonds Baby Search, but seems unisex to me, and rare enough to be up for grabs by either gender.

The word used in the Sydney area for beach sand was marrang, and I’m afraid that’s all the beach-related Aboriginal words which sound like masculine names I can think of. I suggest that you buy a copy of Macquarie Aboriginal Words, which would make a useful reference tool.

I can’t make the choice for you, that is your privilege. I hope you at least feel a bit less stressed seeing your choices laid out in print with some possible outcomes attached.

Once your little boy arrives and is safely settled in, please please please let us know what you chose, and how it’s gone down with everyone on a real baby!

(Image of Bondi Beach from Beach Wiki)

Curl Up With a Good Book in the Nook of Names

11 Sunday Mar 2012

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Most of us started our name blogs as a way to store and share our information, or as an extension of our online activities in forums, or even on a whim. Kay started her blog, Nook of Names, to promote the book she was preparing for publication: Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Names: For Pagans, Witches, Wiccans, Druids, Heathens, Mages, Shamans & Independent Thinkers of All Sorts Who Are Curious About Names from Every Place and Every Time.

That’s an impressive title, which embraces a wide spectrum of people who will want to read this book. If you are not a Pagan, Druid or Shaman, I hope at least you fit under the heading of being an Independent Thinker Who is Curious About Names. Slavish Non-Thinkers Who are Incurious About Names should leave now …. and in fact, how ever did you get here in the first place?

Because Kay has both a book and a blog, I am going to attempt to review both of them simultaneously. It sounds an insane plan, but in my defence I did try to do them separately. In the blog review, I kept needing to refer to the book, and in the book review, I needed to keep referring to the blog – the two are so intertwined that I felt compelled to combine them.

Kay started blogging on Midsummer Eve last year; although she says it is her first attempt, it is a beautiful and professional-level name blog. The Misty theme is a perfect match, the colours are soft and natural, and the background design from the book’s cover suitably mysterious. I must pay tribute to the illustrations for the blog; they are sumptuous and lovingly chosen works of art.

Nook of Names was set up to whet our appetites for The Complete Book of Names, with great success. The first post introduced The Complete Book of Names, the second explained why it wasn’t just for Pagans, and then began the process of providing some sneak peeks into the book’s contents based on names of people who connected to her on Facebook. For example, the entry on Estelle, also covers Stella and Esther, and hints that looking up the entries for Ishtar, Hester, Easter and Vanessa will prove rewarding.

Kay addresses the fact that a Complete Book of Names cannot ever literally contain every single name ever given on earth, and Nook of Names is thus her way of covering many names that couldn’t be included in the book. As a result, the blog has a huge number of names, and they are all indexed, from Abel to Zygus.

Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Names was published at the start of this year, and is available at Amazon and Amazon UK, as well as other good bookstores. UK-based readers can buy a signed copy of the book directly from Kay through Paypal. Australians can buy it from Angus and Robertson, which is rather pricey; if you don’t mind a longer waiting period, The Book Depository has free postage.

I have had my copy since the end of January, and for over a month it has been my constant bedtime companion. It’s a hefty tome – nearly 800 pages, and weighing almost 2 kg. It contains thousands of names, and a wealth of information for each one.

Massive reference books often come in small print, presumably in the belief you will only be looking something up for a few minutes, but Llewellyn have been very generous, and The Complete Book of Names is easy and pleasurable to read. The print is large and black on very white paper, and although there are many codes used to save repeating the same phrases, they are so commonsense that you can probably figure most of them out without consulting the key every time.

(I must confess to not actually using this key, as it is easy enough to decipher that ESW means English-speaking world, and Hist means historical – although having a quick glance at it now, I see it might be possible to confuse yourself, with Lat meaning Latvian and not Latin).

Each entry contains much more information than the usual “name book”, providing not just origin and meaning, but a mini-history of the name, with links to related names which may provide further elucidation. You may wonder what makes the book particularly Pagan; although there are plenty of “ordinary” names, like Henry and Katherine, and “modern” names like Sienna and Chase, the CBM includes many names from world mythologies, and also more nature names than are usual in a name book.

Pagans of all sorts are united by their love and respect for Nature, and so it is not surprising to see unusual name suggestions from the natural world, such as Paprika, Chaffinch, and Hypericon. Names of plants and gemstones often have magical associations, and it is fascinating to read that Parsley was dedicated to Persephone and used in funeral rites, or that Bears were sacred to Artemis, so that young initiates to her cult were called little she-bears. This gives a much deeper understanding of the “meanings” of such natural names.

Kay’s qualifications for writing the book are impressive. According to the back of the book, she is a scholar of history, Assyriology, Latin and Greek; a graduate of the University of Cambridge; and knows a number of modern and ancient languages. She also belongs to the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, and is a member of the British Pagan Federation. In other words, she is a pagan name expert.

Kay has her own theories on names, and that’s one of the things I most appreciated about her book. There’s nothing more annoying than looking up a name and being given the unhelpful entry: “meaning unknown”. I always feel like saying, “Surely you must have some idea?” Kay does have some idea, often several of them, and she’s happy to share her thoughts as to the most likely derivation of an obscure name. When the meaning is lost beyond all finding, she can still help explain its cultural context, and thus what it “means” on another level.

Despite her interest in languages and etymology, this is not just a “name dictionary” which gives a definition of a name. Although it is certainly a valuable reference work, it is intended to be used in choosing real life names, whether that be a name for yourself, a pen name, a name for a baby, names for literary characters, or even a name for a pet.

Although I’m sure most readers will be eager to dive right in to look up their favourite names, or skim through it for more name ideas, it’s worthwhile to read the excellent introduction. It contains a history of naming in the western world which I think everyone who is interested in names should read, and also has thoughtful advice on choosing a baby name. Even this has a certain Pagan flavour – most name books don’t suggest that you might like to consult an astrologer, or seek guidance from your tarot cards or rune stones!

And yet most of it is sensible advice that anyone would benefit from. Although Kay feels that Pagans are more likely to think deeply about their name choices, I’m sure most people do choose baby names with care, and certainly all of us should think deeply about it, and follow our intuition, even if we don’t necessarily use rune stones to do so. One of Kay’s principles of naming is that we don’t so much select a name for someone as undertake a journey to discover it, which I think is a wonderful way to see it, and also puts you in the right frame of mind and heart to find the perfect name.

This is a book that anyone who cares about names will want to own, and consult again and again. It’s filled not only with fascinating information on each name, but contains a multitude of creative naming ideas, including lists of names grouped together by meaning or theme. It may be written from a Pagan perspective, and no doubt fellow-Pagans will find it suits their needs better than any other name book, but it is a book for almost everyone. In short, I don’t know how any name aficionado or name blogger can live without this book.

Now with the book out, and hopefully walking off the shelves, does this mean that Nook of Names has served its purpose and will be laid to rest? There are no signs of it, because there are so many names out there in the world still waiting for Kay to document them. Besides, I bet she’s already working on a revised edition of The Complete Book of Names!

There’s a lot to discover at the Nook of Names. There are essays on onomastics, such as one on Surnames as First Names, which has generated alphabetical lists of English surnames which could make unusual and interesting personal names. There’s Pagan Name of the Month; these always show the pagan roots or pagan connotations of commonly used names such as Aidan or Ruby, making them pagan-friendly populars. Pick of the Week looks at a less usual name; it’s impossible to pick a favourite, but the one on Coventry stuck in my mind.

A series inspired by the runes gives interesting lists of names, there’s names from the world of fiction, including a two-parter on characters in Dickens (lots of cat names!), and inspiration from travel, such as this essay on the sacred landscape of Somerset. British name bloggers, perhaps because they are surrounded by such richness of history, seem remarkably skilled at finding name inspiration wherever they go.

There’s plenty of Paganesque entries, such as ones of names from Nature, names for Pagan festivals such as Imbolc, and names from the history of the Salem witch trials. Kay seems to enjoy starting a new Category as much as I do; however, like me, she sometimes bites off more than she can chew, and Witch of the Week still seems to be a work in progress. It’s an excellent start though, and the entry on Ceridwen was especially lovely, bringing in plenty of first-hand information from Wales, where Kay lives.

Many of these posts are a chance for her to expand on the entries in Complete Book of Names, so if you are a fan of the book, then Nook of Names is essential reading. On the other hand, if you can’t get enough of the blog, then you need to get yourself a copy of Complete Book of Names at once. Then curl up in a cosy nook, and lose yourself in Kay’s magical world of names.

Q & A WITH KAY

Name: Kay Michelle Sheard

Have you ever wished for a different name?: Frequently! I’ve come to like Kay more, as it has a lot of meaning when you start to dig. But I don’t like Michelle. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s never felt “me”.

When did your interest in names begin?: Like a lot of name buffs, I used to collect names as a child – not just first names, but surnames and place-names too. The whole concept of naming and how names began and evolved really fascinated me. It all goes hand in hand with my interest in etymology and social anthropology in general.

How did you first decide to write a book on names?: Writing a book about names was always at the back of my mind, but its birth was sparked by two things in August 2009. I was lamenting the lack of a really comprehensive book of names for Pagans/alternative-minded folk. Meanwhile, one of those Facebook apps offered to tell me what my name meant. I knew already, but did it for fun, and it came out with something so outrageously wrong that that was that!

How long did the book take?: The whole process has eaten up the best part of two years.

How did you find a publisher?: Finding a publisher was very straightforward. I approached Llewellyn in October 2009 with the idea, and was offered a contract in December.

Hardest thing about writing a book: Keeping a balance between work and everyday life. There were times when I ended up having to work on it virtually round the clock, and on more than one occasion I ended up working through the night, snatching an hour or two’s sleep when sheer exhaustion took over.

Your favourite blog entry at Nook of Names: Incan Inspiration – it was great fun to research and write. Plus, my sister-in-law had just got back from a trip to Peru and very kindly let me use some of her amazing photos of llamas.

Your pet naming peeve: Top of mine has to be the school of thought that tries to frighten people into choosing “safe names” with prophecies of doom and disaster, or howls of derision over the choice of something more unusual. The former, I feel, perpetuates the tendency to put the blame on victims for things like bullying, rather than on the perpetrators. And the latter demonstrates ignorance.

Your favourite names: My favourite names are those of Greek and Latin origin, especially those from Greek and Roman mythology. A close second are Welsh names, and names from Welsh mythology, born out of my Welsh heritage and love of all things Celtic.

Your least favourite names: Michelle – for reasons already stated (poor Michelle!). Other than that, I can’t say there’s anything I really despise, except, perhaps those that make a really strong statement about the parents’ world-view, like Neo-Nazis calling their son Adolf Hitler, and truly outrageous stuff like Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii.

Names you love, but can’t use for some reason: Ptolemy. Its meaning – “war” – I can’t embrace, no matter how much I try to persuade myself that the word has a broader meaning than just physical fighting, and that Ptolemy as a name has accrued many positive associations.

Your child’s name: I deliberately keep Small Child’s name private, as it belongs to her, not me. But I will reveal what she would have been called had she been a boy: Octavian Theodore Rhufon.

Did you and your husband/partner have any issues agreeing on names?: Not a great deal; we share similar tastes and attitudes. We came to an agreement that if Small Child was a girl, he’d get to choose her first name, and if it was a boy, I would. I was happy with that, as we both approved each other’s choices, and I got to choose all middle names regardless.

Names you are considering for future children: We probably won’t have any more, but if we did, there really are too many for me to say. However, I think it would be a safe bet to assume that his or her first name would probably be Greek or Latin, and they’d have at least one Welsh name too.

The one piece of advice you would give to someone choosing a name for their baby: Listen to your intuition – your heart – and don’t pay too much attention to what others say, be it family (other than your partner, of course), friends, books, articles or online forums. I can’t help feeling there is something in the notion that there’s a name that’s exactly right for each of us – unfortunately, not all of us get that name because our parents bowed to those external pressures, and that’s a shame.