Lydia Wilen - The Perfect Name for the Perfect Baby: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby

By Joan Wilen and Lydia Wilen:

CHICKEN SOUP & OTHER FOLK REMEDIES*
MORE CHICKEN SOUP & OTHER FOLK REMEDIES*
LIVE AND BE WELL
FOLK REMEDIES THAT WORK
SHOES IN THE FREEZER, BEER
IN THE FLOWER BED
THE PERFECT NAME FOR THE PERFECT BABY*

*Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group

A Ballantine Book
Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group

Copyright 1993, 1997 by Joan Wilen and Lydia Wilen
Illustrations copyright 1993 by Vicki Wehrman

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in somewhat different form by Ballantine Books in 1993.

Ballantine and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

www.ballantinebooks.com

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 96-95198

eISBN: 978-0-307-77507-8

v3.1

People have within themselves a level of prophecy, and they experience it at least once in their liveswhen they name a child.

H ASSIDIC R ABBI

Big thanks to Jolle Delbourgo for making this publishing house a home for our book.

To our wonderful and innovative editor, Elizabeth Rosalie Zack, who pushed us mercilessly and refused to settle for second best, our gratitude and our respect. (This is probably the only page on which we wont have to do more work!)

To Elise Marton, our copy editor and Oops!-preventer, we truly value the masterful job youve done.

Our great appreciation to the writers whose research is in the public domain.

And to all the women and men who choose to be parents, many blessings!

Aside from life itself, one of the first and most influential gifts parents give their newborn babe is a name. Think about it: Youre making a major decision for another person, one thats quite a responsibility. Were not looking to scare you here, but we are looking to prepare you. Thats the whole reason for this book.

The Perfect Name for the Perfect Baby is a practical, informative, and informal guide to aid parents in the traditional and pleasurable task of naming their child. As you will see soon enough, this book is not intended as a scholarly work on onomatologythe study of names. In fact, thats as scholarly as it gets!

Instead, we have lists to inspire you (saints names, biblical names, names of angels), lists to take you down memory lane (names in songs), lists of winners (Olympic medalists), lists that will take you back to your roots (foreign names), lists that will remind you of your favorite people and things (names from literature, soap opera characters, flowers, gemstones, and celebrities), and much more. Somewhere among them all is sure to be the right name for your own child.

So, with our book as your collaborator, enjoy the search and trust in your decision; the name that you finally select will be perfect!

Ready to get started? Take a pen or pencil and get prepared to record your list of possibilities on the pages at the end of the book. (You may also want something to munch on. Baby-naming has been known to work up quite an appetite.) Now make yourself comfortable, andlet the names begin!

Would you give yourself the same name you already have? Before you answer that, take the time to go down memory lane. As a child, were you ever teased because of your name? Did you always change your name when you played pretend games? Did you go through stages when you asked your family and friends to call you by another name? If your answer is yes to any of these, figure out why. Once youve analyzed your whys, it would be wise to take them into consideration when naming your own child.

If its short and simpleSmith, Chan, Goldthen you might want to pair the last name with a long, intriguing first nameAurora, Granville, Evander.

On the other hand, if the last name is longWhitticomb, Yamaguchi, Costellanoyou might want to think in terms of a short and easy-to-remember first nameDawn, Glenn, John.

If your last name is obviously ethnic, be sure to read about ETHNIC NAMES on .

We are definitely in favor of giving todays child a middle name. At a time when everything is computerized, a middle name can be a real plus for identification purposes. There may be several John Crains out there, but the number decreases dramatically by adding a distinctive middle name such as John Schuyler Crain.

And keep in mind that during certain stages of your childs growing up, he or she might not be too crazy about his or her first name. This way the child has a choice; he or she can use that middle name you so thoughtfully chose for him or her years before.

Its important that your child not be an NMI (no middle initial). Weve heard about people in the military who have filled out forms stating that they have no middle name; from that point on, the computers actually list NMI as their middle name on military records.

At dinner parties, bringing up the subject of middle names can be fun. You may want to start the conversation with such interesting observations as: Author Henry Miller and twentieth-century Renaissance man Steve Allen share the same middle nameValentine. And that perhaps it was Lizzie Bordens middle name, Andrew, that got her so angry. Or that its Garth Brookss middle name that is really Garth; his first name is Troyal.

Almost every United States president, from John Quincy Adams to William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, has had a middle name. And four-fifths of the people in Whos Who have middle names. So by all means, give your child a middle name or, at the least, a middle initial. Which brings us to another important consideration

Ah, superstition! It is said that people whose initials spell out a word will be wealthy. If you believe the superstition, then rig it so that your childs name will spell out a word. But be kind. Make sure the word is one with which your child will want to be associated.

Its great when initials spell out words like TEN, FUN, or WOW. But be sure to steer clear of initials with questionable associations like BAD, PIG, or DUD. Did the parents of our lovely young editor, Elizabeth Zack, consider initials when naming their baby girl? Yes! Thats one reason Elizabeth has a middle name, so that she would not be saddled with the nickname EZ.

You might also want to consider initials that are an acronym for a nickname. For instance: Theodore Evan Dodd. The initials are TED, the nickname for Theodore.

Our eighteenth president was baptized Hiram Ulysses Grant. As the story goes, the young student anticipated with dread the teasing he would get from his West Point classmates when they realized his initials spelled out HUG. Fortunately, the congressman who nominated him to West Point thoughtfully changed Hiram Ulysses Grant to Ulysses Simpson Grant (Simpson being the maiden name of Ulysses mother). That took care of one problem for Ulysses, but created another: his nickname became Useless!