“Have you chosen a name?” is now the most popular question asked by friends and family. Since we still have two months to go, G and I aren’t too worried that we haven’t come up with the perfect name. Technically, we also have two weeks after birth to pick a name and turn in Jr’s registration papers. So it may come to down to pulling an all-nighter before the deadline, furiously brainstorming over a pot of coffee (just like my college days).
Naming is an important task. In the hierarchy of ways to emotional traumatize children, I’d rank choosing the wrong name close to the very top. Other kids can be very creative in coming up with not-so-nice nicknames, so it’s no wonder that there are scores of websites and books available to help keep parents from inadvertently choosing names like Richard, Woody, or Fanny. In fact the last chapter of Freakonomics discusses the socio-economic impact a name has, and the importance of timeliness.
