Teacup Café XLII

[Mari]

Nope, Firiel is lovely for some people I'm sure, but it's not down=to-earth enough. We'll stick to Dutch names
I've seen a lot of kids with weird names in my line of work and while I like some weirder names as well (Juniper for a British girl!), my husband doesn't and I'm realistic enough to realise I wouldn't be doing my kids a favour if I gave them names that may be acceptable in different countries, but not in mine.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Mari

I do have Eleanor on my list because I think it's a beautiful name, but my husband doesn't really like it and to be honest, the combination with our last name isn't ideal, soundwise.

That's a good call. My parents too changed their minds about my sister's name since their first choice would have resulted in some very inconvenient, bathroom-related initials. And other kids pick up on that thing for teasing and bullying real quick. Best not to do that to a child.

How are habits in the Netherlands regarding middle names? If they're in usage they may make a good middle road for names you like but wouldn't want to burden a child with as first name.

Both my sister and her partner are working into science and while they liked some historic names, they didn't want to name their kids after that obvious a reference to their interest, so they picked them for second and third names. Also, one of the names they liked was Arabic and they didn't want to limit the child's chances when applying for jobs later because racism is still rife on that count.

And the full names roll of the tongue so nicely when you want to inform the kids they're in trouble now.

Another friend of my, also into science, has also gone decidedly for middle names for her child. She herself only had one and both her first name and last name were so common that it caused havoc when she was publishing things and there was at least one other namesake in her field. So to prevent the same problem, should the child ever want to go into science themselves, their middle names will help to avoid misidentification.

Originally Posted by Valandil

Don't know how this one works with your last name, but for a girl, I've always been partial to Firiel… as a Middle Earth name.

Firiel would have to be adapted to work in Dutch as the 'ie' sound corresponds to the English 'ee'. Firiël would work better.

Our oldest went about 24 hours without a name - and we had to name him before leaving the hospital.

This apparently happens more often than one would think. Happened to my sister too and she said the hospital staff didn't bat an eyelid and just put 'unknown' in the system at first. Afterwards other people's experience seemed to point to the fact that the hospital's gyneacologist had a habit of being obstinately sure -and very often wrong (!)- about the babies-to-be's genders.... Maybe that's why the hospital staff were used to it...

Originally Posted by Mari

I've seen a lot of kids with weird names in my line of work and while I like some weirder names as well (Juniper for a British girl!), my husband doesn't and I'm realistic enough to realise I wouldn't be doing my kids a favour if I gave them names that may be acceptable in different countries, but not in mine.

Hahah, yes, I almost forgot that you're in the front line to see trends in what people call their kids nowadays.

Once you start to think of it, naming a kid is harder than one might think! But I am happy that there are now less restrictions on new baby names then there were in my youth.

[Valandil]

Originally Posted by Mari

Nope, Firiel is lovely for some people I'm sure, but it's not down=to-earth enough. We'll stick to Dutch names
I've seen a lot of kids with weird names in my line of work and while I like some weirder names as well (Juniper for a British girl!), my husband doesn't and I'm realistic enough to realise I wouldn't be doing my kids a favour if I gave them names that may be acceptable in different countries, but not in mine.

Understood - we wouldn't have gone for a Middle Earth name. Almost thought you were soliciting ideas (sorry) - and I have no idea how some of these would sound in Dutch. Or even what common / standard Dutch names are, for the most part.

[Mari]

Earn, unfortunately (or not, depends how you look at it) the middle names are reserved for naming them after our parents. We're big on the naming tradition here (here as in my family, not as in the Netherlands in general). But there are still plenty of not too common, but normal first names to chose from. So I think we'll settle for something that's midway between the very common normal names my husband likes and the weirder, not at all common names I like.

[Earniel]

Haha! Well, that's pretty final then! Interesting tradition, I have not come across it yet. Is it both grandmothers' names if its a girl and grandfather's names for a boy or does it work in another fashion?

Best of luck in finding something you both will like!

[Mari]

The naming tradition is mostly a big thing in the Bible Belt I guess. In my grandfather's line the oldest boy would be named Albert, who'd name his eldest Dirk, who'd name is eldest Albert, and so on. My great-grandmother shunned my mother because she was not named after her. Literally. My uncle and her other relatives would receive 25 cents for her report card and she only got 10 cents. I'm named after both my grandmothers, my sister is named after my grandfather on my father's side since my uncle named his eldest after my grandfather on my mother's side.

It doesn't really matter if the child is named after the grandfather or -mother. It usually has to do with how many other people are already named after them and other factors. It does lead to odd female names since they were named after men here and there. The other way around is not that noticable.

In our case, my father-in-law died when my husband was 21 so he really wants to name Frodo after him. For my side I guess I'll let it depend on gender and initials. It wouldn't do to let a child end up with initials like KKK or LOL because of a naming tradition.
A second child would receive the names of the leftover grandparents as middle names. A third would probably be named after both our sisters. I don't think there will be a fourth and a fifth, but for them we'd have to get creative

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Mari

My great-grandmother shunned my mother because she was not named after her. Literally. My uncle and her other relatives would receive 25 cents for her report card and she only got 10 cents.

So cruel.

Reminds of my mom's story that the nuns at her school also often expressed their displeasure at her not having a christian name. Kids were meant to be named after saints, not after favourite actresses of the parents.

I never understood why people see the need to bother the children with that sort of thing, like they can help what their parents named them! Then again, those nuns, that era... maybe she was lucky all they did was being passive agressive about her name...

[Mari]

Yeah, back then it really was a Thing.

[Midge]

Hey, guys. I'm back. Shortly after my last post, (in may 2017, two posts back in this thread), I found out ... I was expecting! We now have a 7-month-old girl, in case you all are interested in what's going here in Midge's World.

Sane, I can't drink. I'm nursing right now. I'll have a sparkling water.

[Mari]

Hiya Midge! Congrats on your little girl!

[Earniel]

Midge! Lovely to see you!

Oooh, a baby girl! Congratulations!

[Midge]

Thanks. I wanted to upload a pic of her adorable little face, but I was unsuccessful. Anything else exciting going on?

[HOBBIT]

just popping in to say hi. Wow, last login August 2017. :P

[Earniel]

I went to vote this morning for the local elections and that is as exciting as my life has been at the moment.

I'm not sorry to be rid at least for a while of all this ridiculous election posturing and shenanigans are now. At least until next year because I think there will be national elections then.

[Mari]

Peacocks promising things we all know they will never honour. And if one party comes up with a successful point, the others are always quick to copy it, though worded slightly different of course. Meanwhile we keep calling them representatives of the populace. Yeah, right. The only good thing I can think of, is that at least you don't need billions of euros to get elected here (yet) like in the US. At least that way, some normal people may still get voted in.

[Earniel]

Heehee, well, that too. Although this time I was pleasantly surprised that the most horrible missteps (like the all too personal attacks, the missmanagement of public funds and trying to cover that up, and other leaked-out scandals of politicians enriching themselves with money meant for the homeless) actually had real negative effects for those involved and that they got their desserts a little because the public had obviously remembered those shenanigans well enough to not vote for them.

It's not often that voting results repairs my belief in humanity just a little.

Of course now follows the coalition-making process which means a new vat of untold possibilities for public lies, backstabbing, backtracking and other politicianal weasling which may very well still destroy that newfound belief in humanity all over again. But eh, I take my blessings where I find them.

Probably the first year yet when I look at other countries' elections that I think a voting duty that we have in Belgium (rather than a voting right) is not all that bad a system...

[Valandil]

My middle son turns 18 today!

The youngest turned 16 just under 3 weeks ago. He has his driver's permit, but not license... yet.

My oldest is 20-1/2, away at college.

Our dog is hanging in there. We've had her 13 years as of this coming Sunday, and my best guess is she's 15 - she was a rescue dog, so we don't know for sure. Still healthy and relatively active.

That's the family update on the Valandil Household.

[Earniel]

Is voting at 18 or 21 across the pond? If 18 he'll be just in time for his very first election, right?

Heh, I never realised we got two of our cats just before I joined the Entmoot. They're both old and with a long list of health issues but still hanging in there too. Although getting them fed is not an easy task...

[Valandil]

Yes - we can vote at 18, and he registered to vote.

[Alcuin]

Happy Hannukah to all at Entmoot! And Happy Advent, too!