What’s in a name

Choosing a name can be a very difficult exercise. It seems easier to name a person than it is to name a pet. My name is Catarina Angela Gerd (pronounced Yade); I am named after my great grandmother (on my Swedish mother’s side) but given the name by my grandmother. The name Gerd is after my mother’s best friend who actually introduced my parents to each other. They met through an ancient art called letter writing, also known as having a pen pal. Gerd had started writing to my father (who was in the Royal British Navy) when she told him that she had a friend that she thought he should meet, it was a match made in writing. I still have some of the little love notes that my Dad wrote to my Mum. One of my favourite is a picture of him in full Naval uniform standing in front of the coliseum in Rome with a caption on the back “we shall travel here one day darling”, and they did. My siblings are all named after past family members, my brother Peter, after my father’s twin brother. My sisters are named after previous British relatives, Samantha and Melissa. It would be rather entertaining at times to hear my father call out to one of us getting into a tongue tied mess ending up naming all of us so that he would get a response from the one he meant to call upon… Cata, Peter, Sam, err Missy, argh. We would all answer him just in case we were the intended party being paged. The CEO has two brothers and a sister, the boys all have names beginning with R, Russel, Robert and Ronald. The sister is Carolyn, I guess at the time Rebecca was not thought of or maybe over thought of. Do you remember the bread that came in a red gingham bag that was called “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm”? The succession of all those rolling r’s would have done my father in. My mother was named Dolores Yvonne Rigmor. She did not like Dolores so always went by Yvonne which my dad shortened to Nonne. Rigmor is an old Swedish name which sounds a little too much like rigormortis to me. My Nanna (dad’s Mum) was named Katherine but was always called Kitty. Picking a name for a family pet is a whole other ball of wax. You don’t want to name the animal something that is too difficult to call out when commands are being given; you want a name that just rolls of the tongue. In the case of several pets you want names that don’t sound too much alike or the whole pack will be at your feet. I recently acquired a new puppy that I really wanted to call Yum Yum, a nod to my most favourite opera, the Mikado. However, I thought about the CEO standing on the front deck calling out to the dog, “Here Yum Yum, here” somehow it just didn’t sound or feel right. I gave the CEO the option of picking a name, but thankfully he said no. I ended up calling her Ivy, after my great aunt who was a hoot, just like this puppy is. It is interesting to read about the origin of names in the different cultures, maybe you should read or Google the origins of your name. I remember a quote from a friend who said,” It doesn’t matter what people say about you, so long as they get your name right.” Words to live by.