I have gone on a new naming binge. I can't seem to help myself, every now and again i start giving everyone and often everything new names. its one of my more peculiar quirks. I saw a little man in the shoe store. he was the shoe fixer guy, which makes him an actual cobbler. I named him Jaime (said with a strong accent.) In college I named all sorts of people. There was crazy Chinese biker man, and flannel shirt girl; the whistler, and of course the Messiah. I looked some of these people up on facebook and oddly enough not a one came up, but I can assure you that a good number of the people who went to college with me know exactly who i am talking about.

My naming thing lead me to think about the names we choose for our kids and the names that were chosen for us. My daughter, who is adopted and looks very exotic was tricky to name. The names I had chosen for a girl when I was pregnant were very....white. I needed a spicy name for a little brown fireball. My mom always felt that names and words that started with K were too spiky. Assuming that each name has an emotion or a visual attached to it, why in the world do people name their kids things like Elmer (fat kinda dumb kid) or Maud (plain slightly deranged girl, definitely a brunette) or even Bambi, Bootsi, or KiKi (why not just name her booby and get it over with)

I have never felt comfortable in my own name. It kinda fits but its been shrunk in the dryer and rubs and pulls in all the wrong places, also the neckline is too tight. I think a better fit would be something like Kate, or Kami....but those would be too spiky for my mom. ooohh maybe Monica...that is not spiky, very roundish.

As a teacher some of the best names are gone. I can never name a kid Dalton for example...this is not the crisis you imagine, but the point stands, names have baggage. They come with history, visuals and emotions ...and apparently spikes.