What's in a name?

A recent news article reported that British parents spend up to 30 million hours a year picking the names of their newborn children.

Does this seem a bit excessive to you?

The survey stated that the average parent agonizes for up to 45 hours before naming a child--a combined 30 million hours annually. And 1 in 3 parents believe the right name gives a child confidenc--while up to 2 million thought it could help their child's career prospects.

Wow.

I have to admit that when I named my children Joshua, Katie Beth, Amy, and Christa I was not thinking about their future careers. Which is not to say that there wasn't some agonizing going on while Rob and I decided what to name our children.


I'm thankful Josh was a boy. Rob ultimately selected the name Joshua Robert. When I think of what I was going to name him if he'd been a girl--all I can say is I am so, so relieved my first child was a son. At the time, I really, really liked the name Amaris Michal for a girl.

What was I thinking?

Rob and I were still debating Katie Beth's possible names (if she were a girl) when I mentioned to my mom that we were considering naming a daughter after her and Rob's mom--Kathleen Elizabeth.

The decision was made that day--what can I say? My mom was thrilled by the idea!! And I am so thankful Katie Beth was a girl, as were her grandmothers.

Amy was named Amy Lynn because, well, I always loved that name for a girl. That was simple, wasn't it?

And Christa? That was the most interesting name selection process of all because we had three older children weighing in on the possibilities. I remember Josh wanted to name the baby Phillip if it was a boy. And we had to convince Amy that "Bambi" was not a great name for her baby sister, even though it was in the baby name book.

Christa was named Christa because of her Christmas Eve birthday. And her middle name, Jean, is in honor of a very special aunt.

I don't think my total time selecting the names for all four of our children equals 45 hours. And I don't think their career choices have been limited by their names either.




**NOTE: Read my musings on my son's 2001 high school graduation at my Precious Moms blog. My article is called "Another Kind of Breakup." Josh is now married and almost 3 years post college! Where do the years go?**