Fresh Perspective

I recently talked to my sister and ran a bunch of my potential "girl baby" names by her. Most of the names recieved responses like this:

Hooker, Mail Order Bride, Russian Hooker, Stripper...

I go for kind of a 20's Retro Glam style that apparently doesn't translate to everyone in exactly the way I'd hoped.

In a desperate attempt to like one of my names she asked for an other possibilities:

Me: I've been liking Harriet?
Her: No.
Me: What are you talking about? Ever since Studio 60 I've loved that name!
Her: Well sure, but the other little kids on the playground won't think she had a brilliant reparte with Matthew Perry, they'll just call her Harry Toes.

At this point I didn't think it worthwhile to mention Harriet Vane.

And so, I've learned to value my sister's quite different perspective. She's definately one of my beta readers!!

Fortunately the baby is a BOY so, the quest for the perfect girl's name can be set aside. ;)

4 comments:

Holly Kennedy said...

Great post on names, Robin.
And Congrats on winning a copy of Souvenir, you lucky gir!

P.S. I LOVE Noah Lukeman's work, too. The First Five Pages was like a bible for me a few years ago.

August 12, 2007 at 9:20 PM
Melissa Amateis said...

I had one girl name picked out when I was pregnant that I loved:

Victoria Elizabeth

Unfortunately, hubby didn't like it!

August 13, 2007 at 9:53 AM
Jennifer said...

I love that "Hooker" is a completely separate category from "Russian Hooker". Too funny!

August 14, 2007 at 12:38 PM
A Paperback Writer said...

A name comment from a school teacher:
Do try to give the girl a reasonably phonetic spelling for her name. Unusual spellings tend to lead to teachers mispronouncing names and kids teasing said victim mercilessly. I've had some interesting names over the years:
Kyrenia took me nearly 3 months to pronounce right, and the administration never got it. Poor girl.
Chayne and Ryan as girls' names were a little awkward as well.
I had no trouble with Chloe and Majda, but both girls told me they'd had their names murdered over the years. Chloe said one teacher had pronounced her name as "Shlow" and she'd been teased for years.
Just a thought or two for you.

August 15, 2007 at 5:50 PM

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