I think that the first and most significant parenting decision you will ever make will be the naming of your baby.
There is so much pressure to pick the perfect name because this will follow the child through life each and every day. The name my mom originally chose for my older brother was Edwinna Rae. I often wonder what effect that would have had on me if she had still liked the name 11 months later when I was born?
Edwinna is a nice name, don’t get me wrong, not a common name either now or in the 1960s, when I was born. Would I have been a Winnie? And if so would I have had to tout a nickname like “Pooh” or “Wiener”? (Ouch!) I do like my name, Sandy; it’s not hard to remember, easy to spell and can be made formal by changing the Sandy to Sandra when the need is appropriate.
I am not going to take on names that I think are hard to pronounce or hard to spell, but I do have one name in my childhood that stands out. Her name was “Peanut” Nolie, it’s on her birth certificate. Probably super cute as a tiny toddler running around, it wasn’t so fun for her in high school. Most people thought it was a nickname and she had nowhere to go from there. Admittedly I was living as an exchange student in California when I met her. Not many Midwesterners would have decided to name their baby after a baseball snack! (That’s just nuts.)
I come to this because there are some foods that have terrible names but they are delicious. Fish tacos are one. My mom can get past the name. The combination of fish and a taco doesn’t sound good to some, but I love them. They aren’t as heavy as a beef or chicken taco, and they have a fish sweetness. Yummy. The same is true with garlic soup. You think it’s going to be strong and awful because it calls for soooooo much garlic! But this soup is smooth and delicious. I hope you’re willing to give these recipes a try for you never know “what’s in a name.”
If I’m going to tell a real story,
I’m going to start with my name.
~ Kendrick Lamar
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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