The Accidental Name

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

I thought this was one of the oddest naming stories I've heard:

A co-worker of mine is named Elaine. When she was born, her mother had no idea what to name her, so she had all her sisters and sisters-in-law put names in a hat, and the one she drew, was the baby's name. On top of which, she misread the name from the hat: it was supposed to be Eileen.

My co-worker just laughs, I guess she's had her whole life to get used to it, but I'd feel very strange about having a totally random mean that meant absolutely nothing to my parents or even my aunt!

Comments

[wut.livejournal.com]

[b-gum.livejournal.com]

i think it's kinda cool!

i always thought that if i ever had a baby it would be neat to ask the first non-related person who saw him/her to offer a name. all the other important people in my life i was introduced to - why not the baby? it'd be like a surprise... "what's the gender??? really!!! what's the name??? really?!?!?!?!"... and i like so many names that they would seriously have to be making stuff up to pick a name that i didn't like on some level :)

however, i like names too much, so i don't know if i could do that... i name everything that holds still long enough, :P

[b-gum.livejournal.com]

i posted too quick :P but reading my own post reminded me... when i was little i NEVER renamed my cabbage patches, even though you could. i LOVED names and it always kinda surprised my parents that i'd use the name that came on the little birth certificate, but since i loved basically all names it really didn't matter :)

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I actually don't find that too strange. I mean, my name meant basically nothing to my parents besides that they liked it.

[skittles22088.livejournal.com]

Elaine/Eileen... close enough, lol. That being said, I like Elaine better than Eileen.

This reminded me of a story my mom told me this past Saturday: My mom was on bed rest in the hospital for about two weeks. My dad wanted a short, one-syllable name like his (Mark) for my brother. She was looking around her hospital room for inspiration when she saw a towel dispenser and, above it, a bunch of Scott towels. So, she suggested Scott as a name to my dad. And, he liked it! I laughed for almost 5 minutes straight. I never knew that and I don't think Scott knows it either (lol). My name (Samantha) was only chosen because it's an "s" name and it has a short nickname.

[dreamweaver523.livejournal.com]

My daughter's middle name is Elaine, just because I liked it. Actually, both my kids' first and middle names are "just because I/we liked them".

[forloveofbaby.livejournal.com]

My mom was originally going to name me Samantha, then decided on Katie Elizabeth and everyone referred to me by that her entire pregnancy. When I was born, my grandmother walked in the room, asked where 'her Katie Elizabeth' was and my mom replied "she's not here, but Nicole Gabrielle is"

We still have no clue where she got the name from, though Gabrielle is a nod to my gram, whose middle name is Gabriel. I have the most 'unique' name since my gram and her siblings too - my mom is Carol Lynn and my aunt is Denise Ann

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but at least they liked it. Here was a name that, if for no other reason than a pretty sound, they particularly wanted their child to have. I can't imagine naming my child just some random thing.

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

Someone else commented similarly, but as I told them, at least picking a name "just because we like it" is still picking a name. For whatever reason, even if it just sounded pretty, they particularly wanted that name for you. Drawing something out of a hat is a very different thing. It means you literally can't bestir yourself to even just pick something that sounds pretty.

[frost.livejournal.com]

Haha, I never re-named my dolls either, even if I didn't like the name. ^^

[frost.livejournal.com]

They stuck random names into a hat or names that they LIKED into a hat? If the selections were names they liked (taking all of the names on their list and putting them into a hat), then I suppose it's not that bad...

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

Well, I assume it was names that they liked. I mean, this was their newborn niece, after all, and they knew she was going to get one of these names. But since the mom misread the name, Elaine actually got an utterly random name that no one had even put into the hat.

[breezy-boo.livejournal.com]

my parents couldn't decide what to name my sister, so they asked my uncle (who is a professor) to ask his students for their favourite name, so my parents went through all the pieces of paper and picked Caleigh. i think it's a neat story to have. most people don't really have a story about their name... other than "it's a family name"

[velkoria.livejournal.com]

well if you think about it the mom did just like it... I'm sure if the name wouldn't have been something she liked then she would have drawn another one xD

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

lol, yeah probably so.

[frost.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay.
Yeah, that's just... >_> I can't believe she didn't double-check or anything! :O

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

I'm sure if it were a name the mother despised, she would have scrapped it and reached in for another, though.

[makeitstopjamie.livejournal.com]

When we had to do an essay about our name my freshmen year (best assignment ever!) and I remember that one girl said at work "The next name I see will be the name I give my daughter,". The girl went by Gigi, but I think her name was Genevieve.

[istytehcrawk.livejournal.com]

I left mine with the names they came with, too. Ian Borden (http://i38.tinypic.com/vhvmz5.jpg) and Lisette Barbara (http://i33.tinypic.com/21b2bsl.jpg). I still have the adoption certificates and Lisette's birth certificate, and my sister had Ian up until about two years ago when our basement flooded and he was ruined.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't she have read the paper and realized that she had no sister or sister-in-law with the name Elaine? lol. I'd be like, "why is this in here -- ohhh."

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

It wasn't her sisters' names in the hat, it was their suggestions for the baby.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, see, I entirely read that wrong. "Put her sisters and sisters-in-law names into a hat" instead of what you actually put. Sorry! Makes much more sense now, but still not a way I'd want to pick a name.

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

Amen to that, sister!

[skudge.livejournal.com]

My name is totally random. When she was pregnant with me, my mom didn't really have any opinions about English names at all, so one day when she was checking out at the grocery store she picked up one of those little baby name books they have on racks there and flipped to a random page and then closed her eyes and pointed.

[ohhvelocitygirl.livejournal.com]

I like it, and it's not that weird in my eyes. my daughter's name had absolutely no meaning.

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

Wow. Well... what did she pick, if you don't mind my asking? Do you like it?

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

At least you picked it, though, you didn't just let someone else name your baby whatever they wanted. (I assume.)

I think what weirds me out most about the situation is less the randomness of the name (that's hard for me to understand, but I know some people like the romance of serendipity, etc.) and more the idea of leaving the choice up to someone else! To me that says "I can't be bothered to name my own child, even at random. Here, you do it. I don't even care what you pick. In fact, I won't even bother to read it very carefully."

[ohhvelocitygirl.livejournal.com]

that's exactly how my kid got her name. I was sick of trying to figure something out so I asked my friend to list girl names and decided "whatever the fifth name be, that shall she be named".

[skudge.livejournal.com]

She picked Stacey, and I don't like it...not sure it has anything to do with it being chosen randomly. It just has always reminded me of math for some reason.

My mom did spend a lot of time thinking of what she wanted my Chinese name to be, but it didn't get used in the end; my grandma (dad's mom) called her a couple of hours after I was born and informed her of what my name was going to be. Maybe that's why for my little sister, my mom spent a lot of time picking her English name and didn't bother coming up with a Chinese name for her.

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

Huh. Well, how did it work out? Are you pleased with the name? What was it? Why the fifth name, as opposed to third, seventh, whatever?

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

Wow. Me and Grams would have some words. I know how powerful the dad's mom can be in a Chinese family, but I would still go nuclear. I guess it's fortunate for everyone that I'm not Chinese!

Stacey's not bad. Just think, if her finger had gone an inch up or down, you could have been Sonya or Stella! Or maybe you would have liked those better, idk.

[sailorgoodbye.livejournal.com]

When my third brother arrived, my mom, her boyfriend at the time and one of her best friends put names they liked starting with either an A, J or C in a bowl. A because us two oldest are named Anna & Adam, J because the third kid is names Julius & C because of the father's name being Cay. He ended up being named Joacim. :D
So no, not odd at all.

[blue-roan.livejournal.com]

"but I'd feel very strange about having a totally random name that meant absolutely nothing to my parents or even my aunt!"

I hate to say it, because I know a lot of people on here are big on honoring people through names of their children, but I think the meaning or significance of a name can be really overrated at times. While I think using a family name can be nice, I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with a "random" name (although not 'cre8tiv').

[pegasus2o5.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't see anything particularly wrong with picking a name just because you like it. I just don't like the idea of picking something just because it's there. It makes you think, what if the random name had been Moose Boy or Hitler? Would they have even cared? And of course, yeah, they would've. I just don't like the lack of thought that goes into a random choice like that. This is the name your child is going to be saddled with for her entire life. Shouldn't it be something that you choose for a reason? Even if that reason is just "it's pretty"?

[lipsty.livejournal.com]

My cousin and her fiance decided on the name Kimberley for their daughter after they both saw it in the loo at the hospital (Kimberley Clarke is a company that makes toilets here in the UK). The name is cute and really suits their daughter, and it's a funny story :)

[krosp.livejournal.com]

That is so strange - I find it weird for all the reasons you do. I guess some people don't think naming is as big a deal as we do lol but even so you'd think you'd at least choose the name yourself a bit less randomly than that

[gregs-wife1201.livejournal.com]

When my sister's mother-in-law was pregnant with her second child, she asked her 5-year-old son to name his baby sister. He said Tricia. And that's how she got named. Ironically, the mother's name is Patricia. So mom and daughter have nearly the same name. But mom goes by Pat or Patty now. But still, I liked the story of how she got her name.