William Shakespeare said: "What's in a name? that which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." I agreed with him for so long, but the time is a big teacher, and now I stand at a point when/where I disagree with him for the very first time. And it's a special case... What's not in a name?
In your life you come across so many names, some are just common and some just too unique to be forgetten. When we knew it was going to be a girl, everyone got excited, so we decided to pick up the name for the little-princess-in-waiting. Everyone will come up with a name and which ever we find best suits her, will be her name. There was some criteria though, first, my sister wanted the name to start with 'S' as the initial like hers'. Second, the name should be unique as well as meaningful. Third, as she will be growing up in the States, the name should be easy to pronounce for the American tongue.
I can relate to the third criteria so bad. My international friends think that I have an English name. But most of the people out here say it in a different way, its either 'ray-bean' or 'rebin' or whatever, but they do ask me how I say my name first! So, whenever I meet people from China or Vietnam or somewhere else who have a English name to make it easy for others to call them, I ask thier actual names... I may say it wrong for a time or two, but I just want to call them by their real name. I wonder how awkward it would be to be called by a different name, a name that you picked up just a year ago or so... I wonder how they even decide to pick that name, it is like... from this day I will be called X, Y or Z!
Sofia, was the name we all agreed upon at the first... then some said it was too English, too common, had no meaning to our culture or something like that... then we had to scratch our head again... Sarah/Sara/Zara was another name that most of us felt would be a nice name, then it was too common, I know like 3-4 people with that name in my college here, and since Sara sounds like a Muslim name, we thought it was not a safe choice.
There were some names that were good but long, which would be a tongue twister for the people here. With the due-date apporaching, my sister wanted to decide on the name as soon as possible, now she was even flexible with the initial for the name. But we couldn't find the right name. Italian, Irish, Slavic, Hindu... you name it and I searched all the names in internet... it was so hard to find the right one. Avani, Shreya, Snighda, Shoshoni, Alana, Aria, Ciara, Sharna, Freya... non of them matched what we were looking for.
Finally, my sister came up with the name 'Siya', it is another name for Hindu Goddess 'Sita', is short and easy to call as well as not that common. So, we decided whoever says whatever we are done with the name. At some time it was like it may sound Muslim or so as Shia is one of the sect of Islam. But we were done. That is what the little princess would be called.
Now I wonder, if I should start thinking about the name for my kids as early as now eventhough I am not sure when I am going to get married or if I ever will? Naming a child is so hard a nut to crack, I wonder how people decide when they have to name more than one!
Done with the name, now all we are doing is waiting for the day when Siya will finally arrive. Damn, I got to be her best uncle!
