You Named The Baby What?
Monique | Saturday, July 3, 2010 at 3:50AM I know you've all heard the stories of my children were named;
Samara from The Ring (uh huh, the horror movie) Elise from Beethoven's Fur Elise, Alexandrea is my oldest younger sister's name, and back when we liked each other it was a fitting tribute to her.
Caesar from Julius Caesar, both an actual human being and a Shakespearean play that I've never read. (alas, there's an app for that!) Noel being his father's middle name, thus allowing father and firstborn son to carry the same initials.
Mercutio from a somewhat popular Shakespearean play you may have heard of. In 9th grade, in a huge fit of rebellion, I refused to read Romeo and Juliet because my AP English teacher wanted us to read it in modern English instead of how it was supposed to be read- how it was actually written, so I never fully read that one either, but loved both the character and the name. Anthony is Christian's brother, thus making Mercutio's initials M.A.C. we call him Mac because there is a very sweet, caring, imaginative and funny character on Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends by that name, and yes that is indeed a cartoon.
All of the Minions conformed to their names, Samara is a little evil. Caesar is very forceful and domineering. Mercutio is, simply, a character.
And so now we come to this one, this Birthday of ours.
The kids' names are VERY important to us, if we went with Apple, or Pilot Inspektor, it would be because there was something beyond it sounding nice, or pissing people off or making them think we're on the pipe.
Yes. I'm justifying.
I'm justifying because when we decided on Mercutio's name, the general consensus was that we 1: Hated our children. 2: Shouldn't be given the power to name them, or should at least consult people who named their children "normal" names. 3: Should call him by something else, like his "normal" middle name.
And I get this. To an extent. I recently came across the name Jude Sin (or something close enough to that) and everyone caught on to Sin and hated the shit out of it, while frankly, and not just because I'm apparently the antichrist, I found Jude to be the culprit of my distaste. The couple said their baby embraced the light and the dark of life, and then I loved the name, Jude and all.
Now, I have nothing against simple names either. My sister just recently named her newborn son (whom, a cross between a mushroom and a gnome, is flipping adorable pie!) Jacob. It goes perfectly with his brother's name, and when said with his middle names, flows beautifully. It is however, the most popular name ever in life. And, for US, the simple names have nothing more to them besides being simple and easily digested by the masses.
I struggled with this name we chose for Birthday, physically unwilling to use it because I can already feel the mounds of shit building up beneath my feet. Worried about how everyone will react because it's far from Tom, Dick or Harry. (Maybe, not *too* far from Harry. You'll soon understand.)
My soul sister noticed that we had two C's, two M's and one S already. Why not find another S?
We contemplated this and it was something that Christian really wanted to do, so for WEEKS we searched through every single S name on the planet. Eleventy books, fifty ipod apps, four hundred and one lists and at least a million websites. We asked friends, who'd suggest all the names we'd already read or make something up that we didn't really like.
And through what was nothing short of an ordeal, the ONLY S name we liked and would consider, continued to pop up. Christian was down from the beginning, but as I said, I struggled greatly.
So. Here we go.
Once upon a time, before Caesar was named, Christian wanted the name Cadillac. I of course thought he was joking and said hell to the no. Fourish years later I found myself STILL saying hell to the no, until one night while watching Austin, Danger's my middle name, Powers, I casually joked that we should name our next child Danger. And Christian immediately offered never to suggest Cadillac again if we kept Danger on the table and I took it.
When we found out that Birthday was definitely a boy and upon our devastating epiphany that this should be our last biological child, Christian realized that while he loved the name we'd already picked he REALLY wanted to use Danger and really wanted to find an S first name...
If you're a hardcore geek nerd like me, you will immediately recognize Severus and have a very clear picture of who he is. And if you know me, you'll know precisely why I finally made peace with the unavoidable backlash enough to choose it. While still a little afraid because I know not everyone will agree, but by God everyone has to TELL you so, I am finally happy and secure enough to announce...
Our last son, our final child, and we are just BEGGING for fucking trouble with this one:
Severus Danger C.
Reader Comments (7)
Holy Fucking Shit Dude I LOVE the name.
Please please dont let ANYONE'S opinions and dirty remarks deter you or make you feel like shit. Severus' name is beautiful and dark something everyone should embrace. The first image to pop into my mind was a raven, a mysterious creature that is feared and adorn. Im sure he will wreak havoc in your life lol.
I love you and your family.
Congratulations B1!
^^^ I agree; Love the different names! Their all wonderful!
Hooray!!!!!! And eff anyone who doesn't like it. Send them to me, I have enough the right now to truncate them with words and walk away while they figure out what the hell just happened.
****hugs****
My effing iPod changed rage to the...erg.
I love it!! I think all of your childrens names are beautiful and I love the fact that you can explain how you picked each name.. It makes each name mean so much more. Don't ever let anyone give you shit for picking YOUR children's names, because it's just that.. YOUR choice, not theirs.
<3
I love love love love it! He is going to fit just right in!
I love all of your kids' names! I chose my son's name based on tradition, family and what the names I liked meant to ME, not to anyone else. Respectable first name (first letter is the same as all the men in his dad's family), first middle name is his father's middle name, second middle name is my mother's family name and his last name is mine. He's part of my family and his father's family as well as his own person and his name reflects that. Also, he has four names just like me! That's the most important thing. You know what fits the itty bitty amazing person you gave birth to, not faceless people you don't know from the internet and not well-meaning friends and family. Whenever you talk about Severus I remember, "Albus Severus, you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."