A Shame about that Name

People choose from a wide variety of names for their children these days: traditional names, place names, obscure ethnic names and, of course, made up names. Some names may bring back memories of the mean neighborhood kid who liked to play with matches. Some names may sound more appropriate for a car than a child. (Use your imagination.) Others may be a bit baffling (Wmffre?) Whatever the name, the well mannered mother never discloses her negative reaction. Where an ill-mannered mother might say, “Ugh! the last Zeus I knew weighed 400 pounds,” the well manned mother would say, “How wonderful to have a classical name.” And when introduced to darling newborn, Eithne, the well mannered mother may say, “What a lovely name, tell me how you chose it.” Whatever the conundrum, you can't go wrong with admiring the baby.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any advice on how to respond to someone who tells you their child was named for the city in which he/she was conceived? TMI!

RTP said...

Being a parent of newborn is hard enough without people giving you a hard time about your choice of name. That said, what is up with picking a boy's name for a girl? It is just confusing, not cute.

EHP said...

Yes, those are some real zingers, but of course we are too well mannered to comment.

MTO said...

actually 'what a beautiful baby' can be received as trite and insensitive....pick a feature and compliment that, please.(speaking as the mom of a child with a facial difference/abnormality that left some people speachless (even worse!))

EHP said...

Point taken, MTO. See above. Also, "differences" is a topic in and of itself...

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