To complicate matters further, since we lived in Japan, we had to take into consideration that if we gave our child any name that contained an "r" or an "l," the locals would have trouble with it. Alex had already endured months of being referred to as "Arex-san," and he wasn't sure he wanted to inflict the same fate on his kid. Lucas was another favorite that was quickly eliminated. Not only would he be called "Roocus," but it was also the name of Cookie Monster on Plaza Sesamo, the Spanish language version of Sesame Street, an association that for whatever reason Alex felt he couldn't handle.
In addition to all the other restrictions, we also had to be careful not to choose a name that had a negative meaning in Japanese. So worried is the government about this that they have actually issued a list of characters that people are forbidden to use in naming their children. Some of the restricted names seemed fairly reasonable. It certainly wouldn't do to have a bunch of kids running around named Bad, Sweat, Naked, Stomach, Ticket and Meat.
One would think it'd be fairly easy to avoid naming your kid something like that, but even innocuous sounding Western names could have quite negative meanings in Japanese. We had to rule out Ben, because in Japanese it means poop. A list of naming guidelines began to form. First off, the name must be able to be pronounced by all family members. Secondly, the name must not remind anyone of either a gluttonous Sesame Street character or a gluttonous third grader.
In talking with other pregnant friends who were also in bicultural relationships, I came to learn that we were not alone in our naming problems.
It certainly wouldn't do to have a bunch of kids running around named Bad, Sweat, Naked, Stomach, Ticket and Meat.
An Irish girlfriend of mine walked into our birthing class one day and announced that her French husband wanted to name their daughter after her vagina. A circle of pregnant faces stared at her in confusion until she explained that her husband was determined to name their daughter "Fanny," a very popular girl's name in France but which, in Ireland, is used to refer to a woman's genitals. I saw then that my problems could be worse.
I realized that some of Venezuela's whimsical naming customs had seeped over into neighboring Colombia (or at least into my Colombian) when Alex came home one day and announced that we should name the baby "Biji" after one of the characters in our "Japanese for Busy People" textbook. He reasoned that, since we lived in Japan, we should give our child a "Japanese kind of name." In the book, Biji-san plays the part of the businessman. He is depicted by a round circle indicating a head and a pie-like piece cut out of the circle as his mouth. He is bald and always dressed in a little smock with no pants and a tie. Needless to say, in my opinion, this was not the perfect name.
©2008 Anna Dilemna and Nerve Media
About the Author
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Anna Dilemna has written for Craft, The Green Parent and Practical Parenting. She has lived all over the world, and is in the midst of moving to Madrid, Spain. Meanwhile, she resides with her two-year-old son in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her website is annadilemna.typepad.com |
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