A6

BY MIKE LUSHINGTON

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Our granddaughters, Katie and Victoria, have been visiting. The other day we engaged in a rather fanciful discussion on names, particularly favourite names for children. I was holding forth on my mild disliking of the current trends to name children after famous entertainers, or after certain geographical features, such as certain American states.

Time was when places were named after famous people — saints, kings or queens, presidents, or other luminaries. Only recently, it seems, has that process reversed. Why, I wondered in a pique of nationalistic fervour, would people call children names such as Nevada, Dakota, Montana, Florida, or, for all I know, Utah? Why would Canadian parents not name their little boys Manitoba, or Saskatchewan? I think that some have actually used Alberta as a girl's name, but that is the exception rather than the rule. Brunswick seems like a nice name for a boy (or even New Brunswick if the child happened to be the son of Brunswick — rather than Brunswick Junior — the same could be said for Scotia and Nova Scotia, especially for those up in their Latin).

Of course, one should always consider the potential for nicknames derived from the original — Main or Toba are possible examples, should someone decide to use that name — and, of course, the diminutive for Newfoundland has already experienced wide usage — although Newf is often used as an adjective (You Newf You) as a name.

Thinking regionally (while remembering that Dalhousie, Campbellton, and Balmoral already reflect the older example of places after people), names like Charlo and Belledune seem like candidates — although Eel River and Point LaNim might be stretches.

In the end it seems, the current practice of choosing names for children is limited only by one's imagination. One hopes that, in so doing, that parents remember two rather important things: one of them is that the name they bestow on their newborn may have connotations that the name chooser has overlooked. The fond Newfoundlander may remember his childhood home with considerable fondness, but does he really want to call his son, Come By Chance? (Although Heart's Content is rather nice.) The second thing is that the poor child will have to carry that name for the rest of his or her life, and who would want to do that with a name like Dildo or Crapaud?

In the end, I think that we want our children to remember us fondly — the names that we bestow on them is an important first consideration in that direction.