Rex
Dumped when pregnant and facing motherhood alone, follow mum-to-be Farah Ishaq's bumpy journey to motherhood. This week she talks names...
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" William Shakespeare famously wrote, but when it comes to naming our babies, their moniker could go either way; either detrimental to their well-being (definitely NOT sweet) or a helping hand in their very sweet success. And let's face it, who could face a lifetime of saying 'Hi, my name is Chardonnay.''Facts' and figures crop up on a yearly basis in the press about children's names, those labelled Callum, Connor or Chelsea for example are expected by teachers to be badly behaved, whilst if your child is called Katherine, Elizabeth, James or Robert they are apparently destined for a high flying career. What a burden!
For some reason I thought I'd have a tricky time choosing a name - like many of my expectant friends. However, the nano-second I found out I am carrying a baby girl, I'm stuck. My daughter will be called Vivienne. Latin and French translation: "alive." Very apt, I think, considering what difficult circumstances surrounded her surprise lucky conception in my faulty endometriosis-ridden scarred womb.
My only bugbear, is that everyone will shorten her name to V, Viv, Vivvy. I've always been such a stickler for full names, Michael not Mike, Daniel not Dan. Would William Shakespeare have the same resonance if he was known as Bill or Billy? But I'll just have to get used to it. For some reason I can't even conceive of an alternative.