What’s in a name

There are those of us who have common names, that we got due to their religious meaning, or because of heritage and family sentimentality.

Then we have the group of people who have names that are either a combination of the names of their parents, or sometimes certain objects or features and elements in nature, or even after places, countries and cities.

“My father’s name is André and my mother’s name is Chanel, so they combined their names to make mine, ‘Chandré’. It’s nice that it’s a unique name, but strangely enough, I have heard the name somewhere else before”, said Chandré (who does not want her surname revealed) from Alberton.

Some parents name their children because of the meaning of the name, citing for example, the good qualities of a person who also has the name in question, and others simply like the sound of the name, without even knowing the meaning behind that name.

Whatever the case may be, names are what give us a sense of who we are, how we identify ourselves, and even how other people see us.

A classic country song, ‘A boy named Sue’, comes to mind, and is about a man who grows up having to fight his way through life for being so badly teased due to his name. The man comes across his father at a bar one day and they fight, and Sue wants to know how his dad could be so cruel to name him what he did; his father replies by saying he knew that he wouldn’t be around and that it was a difficult world, so he gave him that name to make him tough and strong.

So to all expecting parents out there, be kind, and be mindful of the name(s) you give your children, they will have to live with them for the rest of their lives.

*Read more about the origin of your name and its meaning at www.behindthename.com