What Is In A Name?

Well it certainly has taken me a while to get back to blogging!
But here I am - at it again.

Today Linden asked me why we chose his name to be Linden. I told him that it was one of my favourite names because it was an old english name (reference to a Linden Tree) and the spelling came about because of our favourite Canuck - Trevor Linden.

Despite this heartfelt explanation he gave me a quizzical look. And asked:

'Why not Poison Ivy?'

I responded that Poison Ivy was never on the list. And Linden asked:

'You never even considered it? Never thought that I might like it?'

Alas no.....

But it got me thinking - what is in a name? How important is a name? Why do names go in and out of fashion? Why do we name our children at birth before we know what their personalities will be? Why do some of us name our children before they are born (when they are only really a wish of a personality)?

Should we wait to name our kids? Lets face it - the name never really sticks for the first few days anyway- at least not for me. I had to keep reminding myself what their names were. And more than once I referred to all of my children in their infancy by someone else's name.

So it brings me back to the naming... and I will leave you with this story.

When my mom was pregnant with me she met a little girl at a park in West Vancouver. She asked the little girl her name and was told it was Tassi. Short for Anastasia.

My mom was hooked. I am not sure if they had already decided on Anastasia, but Tassi at the park sealed the deal.

In 1993 I worked at a summer camp in Penhold Alberta. At that camp was a woman named Tassie Micheals. And she was about 5 years older than me and she lived in West Vancouver.

Coincidence that I ended up working with my namesake 17 years later?

It is a small, small world.

Where ever you are Tassie - thank you.

So was I born into my name, or did my name grow to represent me?