Hello from Fredder Land!

I developed my love of names early on. As the second of six children, it seemed normal to me that names were always discussed; my parents would talk often about the names they were considering for the new baby. From them I learned the importance of compromising between naming styles, as well as to appreciate passing on a name that holds great meaning to the child’s parents. They encouraged my curiosity, and always answered my questions about what a name meant, and why it was special to them.

 

My own name, Mary-Catherine, is a prime example of compromise and choosing a name with family meaning. My father wanted to name me after my mother, Mary. She wanted to name me after her sister, Catherine. Their compromise was a hyphenated first name, and the understanding that I would always be called by both names. While having a double first name caused some confusion at times, I loved knowing that I was named after two special people in my life, and appreciated how each name was carefully chosen.

 

Names and their origins, meanings, and histories continued to fascinate me, and I spent a great deal of time flipping through the family tree my parents compiled, as well as the family Bible, which had a section dedicated to names (mostly Biblical and Saint’s names) in the back.

 

When I married my high-school sweetheart, John, I had to remember the lessons on naming compromise that my parents had taught me. It seemed in the beginning that we would never settle on a name for our first child. He preferred trendy or off-beat names; I had a fondness for older, more traditional names. We discovered that we both loved names that reflected our Scottish and Irish heritage, as well as names with family meanings. He willingly gave up his trendy choices, and I let go of my turn-of-the-century name lists, and we found names that we both loved.

 

I wanted my children to have names that meant as much to us as my own name meant to my parents- and names they could be as proud of as I was of my own name. The names we chose for our son and our daughter, Sian Alasdair and Fiona Cathleen met all of our requirements. They each have one name that was chosen for its family significance, as well as one name that we both loved that reflects our pride in our heritage.

 

What I learned from my parents, as well as in my journey to find names for my own children, has molded the naming philosophy I now have. I strongly encourage that parents look for names that mean a great deal to them, rather than just names that sound “cute” Naming a child gives a parents an opportunity to pass along part of themselves to their children. We chose names with connections to our family and ancestry- and there are so many other choices out there. I think that one of the greatest gifts a parent can give to their child is a name that they can be proud of, a name that means something special to them and to their parents.