What's in a name?

The name. The only decision that the parents make before really learning to know the kid, but the one that the kid needs to live with for the whole life. Talk about pressure. I have noticed that there are about as many ways of arriving at a name, and prefences and feelings of what is good, as there are people.

The name can't be too weird, or she will be laughed at. Nor can there be too obvious ways of making fun of it. Nor should it be too common, otherwise it will be a nuisance. Well, at least the rare last name helps with that one, providing for an easy chance at a unique identity in this world. Oh, and need to avoid any weirdo celebrities, too. And all the former bosses and other people who give strange connotations to a name.

So need to find a not too common, not too rare name. Importantly, after about a thousand times spelling my name to non-Finns, most of whom still mispronounce it, I want the kid to have a name that is easy to grasp for an international audience. But, no doubt, we agree that it needs to be a Finnish name.

After careful research on Finnish names, there is a sigh of relief that we are aiming at a girl's name: there are quite a few of them that are directly international. A boy would be a completely different thing, though. What is it with Finnish men that their names do not transfer to any other language? Practically none of them.

Well, let's see what we come up with. One thing is sure though: we will not be using the method of a friend. This calls for asking for suggestions from the close family and putting the names up for a vote to the same guys. The name with most votes gets picked. Different cultures, different backgrounds, different families. In our case: mothers and mothers-in-law - please do not bother :-)