Letter Rip

Choosing a child’s name is a daunting and overwhelming process. The responsibility of deciding what another person will be called forever is huge. When they brought me Keilana’s birth certificate application for my signature, I had my first parental anxiety attack. What if I was making a terrible decision? What if she hated it and needed therapy to get over it? What if it didn’t match her or her personality? And so on. It took me hours to put pen to paper and the nurse got pretty exasperated. When we found out Connor was a boy, “Kiefer” was the name we chose. But I had a dream that it wasn’t the right name--although the dream-giver wasn’t kind enough to let me know what the right name was. So, after much debate, we chose “Connor,” but it took me two years to really settle into it. Nicknames have to be considered, as well. I’m sure my parents didn’t think of the problems created by naming me something that rhymes with “coyote,” but grade-schoolers were all over it. And you have to worry about initials, too. No parent wants to saddle their kid with heinous initials, but finding something that works is a challenge. We wanted Addison’s middle name to be “Shea,” because it is a family name. However, if you have a last name that starts with “S,” Addison Shea is not going to work, right? I thought of this when I read Martha Alexander’s A, You’re Adorable. Letters are hard-core.

http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Adorable-Martha-Alexander/dp/0439071577

http://loganberrybooks.com/most-alexander.html