What’s in a Name?

 What’s in a Name?

A Sixty-Word Short Story:

They went through the baby naming book so many times that they nearly had it memorized. The search was compounded because they didn’t know the baby’s sex, so she started quoting Shakespeare: “What’s in a name? That by which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” I have it, he said, if it’s a girl.

And more…

Names are not only the thing we give our children. We give them an identity that they can grow into. Many years ago, when our second child was born, we had names selected whether it was a boy or a girl. If it was a boy, and it was, the name would be Lucas. When we met him however, he didn’t seem like “Luke” to us and so for a couple of days we searched the naming book again, like the folks in our story. We finally decided on Adam. And if you know him or ever meet him, you’d say that he’s the perfect Adam.

Later that day I told my family we had decided on Adam and since my brother was expecting a baby the next week, he told me that “Adam” was the name they were considering, but now they we going to reconsider. Having two cousins with the same name didn’t seem right so they chose Eric. And Eric is the perfect Eric. Just ask him. My point is that when names have context and deliberation, they create a story that surrounds the namesake and somehow perfection is attained.

That said, I’m happy to report that I’m a grandpa again. This week I met my granddaughter, Florence Marie, born to my son Maxwell and Florence’s mom Julia. Florence was my mother’s middle name and Marie is the middle name of Julia’s mom. And thus, the story is created and like our story this week, featuring a rose, the name Florence is derived from the Latin florens meaning flourishing, and of course, blooming.

The Final Thought: Sometimes, when it comes to naming, you have to go with the Flo.