Friday 8 April 2011

What’s in a name

Another random rambling tonite, about names this time.

Masa I preggy dulu, one of the enjoyable bits about being pregnant was the choosing the name bit. Bila 2 cultures collide come together, sometimes,  a task as easy as choosing a name pun can become quite laborious, hehehehe.

(But I am so thankful yang my kids weren’t born in the last few years in M’sia! Because if I were in M’sia and I jenis someone who follows the flow or keeps up with the trend, maulah agaknya nama anak2 I tu sikit nya panjang berjela2 kan, hakhakhakhak. Kalau tengok nama budak2 zaman sekarang, sikitnya unique ke the spelling and also sampai 3-4 nama Smile).

Masa The Other Half and I were choosing the girls’ names, the only thing we had in mind was that the names had to be short and easy to spell and pronounce. The Other Half is not that good in spelling (even the english words, hikhikhik), bayangkan lah kalau I pandai2 pilih nama sikit nya panjang the spelling, kesian laki I tu nak eja Confused smile.

But dalam pilih2 nama tu, he also had one request of the names we chose.

He doesn’t want the initials to spell anything bad or strange or weird.

Dia kata kan ke best kalau the initials spell something nice or doesn’t spell anything at all so tak boleh lah budak2 make fun of the girls’ names.

So, when I was preggy with Miss 11 (who’s going to be Miss 12 in 2 weeks time), The Other Half had already chosen her first name. He found the name in a favourite story book of his, a book called Dune by Frank Herbert. It’s the name of one of the characters in the story.

And I got the job of choosing the second name. Since the name he chose started with A and the surname starts with T, I kena choose a middle name that would not make the initials spell anything bad!

You nak tau bila I dapat cari a suitable loved-by-us second name tu? About a few days before I terberanak! hikhikhikhik…..

And her initials end up spelled A.H.T Open-mouthed smile. Takde makna apa2 yg nasty, hehehehe.

With Miss 7 pulak, I’ve already chosen the first name. I’ve fallen in love with the name so it had to stay Winking smile. And then bila I asked The Other Half to choose her second name, punyalah asik tak berkenan aje I dengan segala nama2 yang dia pilih. And then bila I pilih nama, dia terus kata tak boleh sebab it will spell Z.I.T and he said, kesian kat anak dia nanti kalau betul2 penuh zit kat muka.

Hish, ada ke itu excuse dia bagi……..

And then we found a second name that we sort of not ‘not like’ and we sort of agreed with it. And then bila I dah delivered, Miss 11 who was 4 1/2 at that time pun bagitau Nana n Pop dia sape nama her new sister.

But, bila we had to register her birth, we changed our minds again and change her second name. Kesian Nana n Pop terpinga2 tiba2 cucu diaorang dapat nama lain, hehehe.

And she ended up with Z.S.T, see, takde makna langsung the initials kan Open-mouthed smile.

Can you imagine if we were to name the kids and the initials come out as S.H.I.T or R.A.T or R.O.T or B.A.T or B.R.A.T or P.E.S.T?

Sian diaorang kan, heeeee…..

And ini our dinner yang takde kaitan langsung dengan nama

IMG_8676.

Lemon pepper squid, crumbed whiting and seasoned fries with steamed broccoli.

IMG_8679

All frozen from the shop and all oven baked. I cuma masukkan semua dalam oven and steamed the broccoli aje.

You can reduce the calories of the fish n chips you eat by baking them in the oven instead of frying them in oil. Doesn’t matter what oil you use, it is still high in calories.

21 comments:

TopsyTurvyMum said...

Hehe..
Amjah punya initial name H.A.M wakakaka..

skang plak trend taruk nama omputih depan nama arab belakang:)

eh, i ke first??

TopsyTurvyMum said...

yay, first!
wakakaka..
tetiba sengal plak malam ni hihihihi

Flower said...

Samalah hb you ngan my hb. Spelling fail. Bagi yg senang pun gerenti fail. Typical Aussie.

My anak2 semua nya nama senang2 saja. Cuma ada empat alphabet dlm nama. Utk my boy, O.M.A, pronounce sama mcm nama dia betul, my girl H.M.T, tak de makna langsung. Nama my boy, my hb pilih, n my girl I pilih. Simple name n simple spelling. I personally tak suka nama yg pelik2 spelling dia. Just imagine kalau gi sekolah nanti. Harus bergulung cikgu menyebuk nye.

lemongrass said...

TTM,
memang sengal you malam ni, hahaha. Takpe, Amjah comel so H.A.M pun takpe, hikhikhik....
memang betul you cakap, trend sekarang semua nama ala2 mat saleh, hehehe.

Nora,
Diaorang ni spelling memang hancus kan. Nasib baik I sekolah kat M'sia yg pentingkan spelling sgt2 so budak2 berdua tu tanya I aje bila spelling2 ni :-).
Mat Saleh kat OZ ni pun skrg suka spell names pelik2 kan.

Dinas Aldi said...

Bila jadi cikgu kelas lagi la, garu kepala bila nak tulis nama, err sebagai contoh - 'Wan Nur Sara Liya Farhana binti Wan Muhammad Amir Arif' dalam ruang buku rekod kehadiran yang super sempit itu..*sigh*

lemongrass said...

Dinas,
Nasib baik lah kat sini diaorang tak kisah pasal second or third name, cuma first name n surname aje yg penting so cikgu semua selamat dari dapat sakit tangan menulis nama panjang2, hehehe.

Flower said...

my hb ckp yg mat salleh bagi nama n spelling yg pelik2 tu sbb diaorg tu bogan. Tp mmg, kkdg walaupun namanya nama classic mcm Taylor, tp spell like Taelor, taile n etc, or Michele jd Mishel, Meechele.

Sizuka said...

when i was pregnant with Iman, I memang awal2 nak nama dia Iman, even before I tau Iman is a girl. When it comes to Iffah, I takde idea nak letak nama apa, so sham yg pilih her name. Both ada same initia, T.N.I. We wanted simple and 2 syllable word for the name, thus Iman and Iffah. Senang nak ingat :D

ps : I googled TNI, yang keluar Tentera Nasional Indonesia.. hehehe

lemongrass said...

Nora,
they are the same people who can never say 'you'. They always have to say 'youse'. It really makes my ears red aje dengar 'youse' tu, hehehe....

Shidah,
Mcm Matt lah, dia awal2 kata nak nama Alya for a girl. Nasib baik ada meaning nama tu. Itu pun ramai Mat Saleh tak tau nak pronounce her name. Diaorang slalu sebut it as 'ayla'.

Nanak said...

tak terfikir pula pasal initial name ni masa pilih nama..my baby Fredo pula F.I.B..ehehe..

miSs inTerpReted said...

So far, i tak berpeluang nak pilih nama anak because my husband said, i was privileged to be pregnant for nine months, so he should have the privilege to name them. Nasib baik sedap nama yang dia pilih.

:cahya schatz: said...

kes i : pulun cari nama since pregnant 3 bulan... last² nama missLR skg, encik suami bg dlm masa 3minit pencarian.
huh.

Madam Sooyaree said...

Masa dulu I preggie, we decided not to check on the gender. So memang kena prepare nama for girl & boy. But somehow we always feel it'll be a girl. Dan nama untuk girl, punyalah banyak, nama untuk boy ada 2 je kot. Tu pun tak finalize.

Nasib baik bila keluar, girl. Dapatlah Cik A.I.S. Ok lah kan, walau boleh eja, apa sangat yang orang boleh make fun of AIS :P

T said...

I pernah jumpa a lady tak suka her initial B.M. (Bowel Movement). Zaman mak dia namakan dia, B.M. takde makna lagi.

My initial TAH (AH, my dad punya nama), sebab tu lah bila orang tanya soalan, I selalu jawab nTAH. hehehe.

I don't have kids, and not planning anytime soon. Tapi we already disagree with the name. My spouse suka nama classic American macam "Sarah", "Hannah" ,or "Joshua" or "Benjamin" for boy. I pulak suka Eastern European/Russian or Melayu names like "Nikolai", "Ava", or "Matahari", "Bulan", or "Suria." The only one I think we can agree on is "Anna", tapi different sebutan. Tapi itu semua hanya angan-angan. heheehe.

Mira Marlena said...

I noticed that nowadays people love to combine few names..and panjang menjela..!As for me initially nak letak 2 names for our kids tapi ditentang hebat dek my husband,katanya nanti nak panggil cuma satu nama..bertikam lidah jugak time tu..hahaha.Tapi apa yg dia cakap tu ada betulnya cuma saya aja tak puas hati.
I googled Nadeen name it was originally French?(I think) and takut orang tak reti sebut 'Nadine' i tukar jadi Nadeen.Even my name punyalah panjang..N-Z-A-L (NZ is my name and the AL belongs to my dad) even kadang-kadang nak isi borang pun line tak cukup nak tulis..muahahahaa.

Sally said...

hhehe..i pun dah siap nama even tak tahu jantina it was a boy or girl..I have choose one name already ..punyalah excited walaupun ada lagi 4 bulan..hahha

lemongrass said...

Nanak,
Kalau Fredo nya initial FBI lagi glemer kan, hehehe.

Miss Interpreted,
I dont have enough confidence in my hubby to choose the names, hikhikhik...

Cahya Schatz,
Hahaha...kadang2 tu memang mcm tu kan. Sikit nya lama cari nama, alih2 the baby yg keluar dpt nama lain but sometimes, nama yg kita pilih spontan tu yg sgt kena dengan the baby kan!

Sooyaree,
Same with us :-). We all pun tak check the gender but like you, we terasa sgt2 yg both of them will be girls. We all lagi lah, langsung tak cari nama boys, hahaha.

T,
hikhikhik...kesian dia kan. Patutlah you suka jawab nTAH ye ;-P.
Maybe nanti your kids can have 2 or 3 names just so both of you can be satisfied, hehehe.

Mira,
I and hubby memang nak 2 names sbb he has 2 names and I pulak memang teringin sgt2 nak bagi anak 2 names, hehehe.
I really thought Nadeen was arabic sebab I know of a few Arab Nadeens here :-), did'nt realise it was originally French.
Sure masa exam you jenuh nak tulis nama you kan, hehehe.

Sally,
biasalah tu, I pun dulu before preggy lagi dah ada a few names yang minat :-).

Riha NCL said...

Apa middle name untuk anak-anak kak min tu?

Tak pernah terfikir pulak tentang initial sebelum ni. Tapi betul jugak kan, kalau initial yang ada mkna seperti pelik2, takut budak2 kat sekolah ejek.

a.m.i.e said...

akak..ape name penuh/pnjg anak2 akak ek?..teringin sgt nak tau..

lemongrass said...

Riha,
I pun tak pernah terfikir pasal initials ni, my hubby lah yg insist initials kena ok, hehehe.

amie,
Tau nama first cukuplah ye. I tak nak tayang full names diaorang kat blog ni, manalah tau kan....
But nama diaorang sangat2 lah melayu nya ;-).

Cieri said...

my siblings and me have a very long name. 3 patah perkataan+2 patah for my dad`s name=5 patah perkataan(6 kalau nak kira ngan bin/binti) and yes, susah gila nak isi borang esp bila kat jepun.nak perkenalkan diri pun ssh sampai tensen nak explain y 3 nama kat depan tu all my first name bukan family name.n skang risau takut2 bakal somi tersasul nak sebut time nikah...aduh...
my initial is NAAMA. still ok la kot.
but when saya dapat anak,saya nak letak 1 patah perkataan aja.I like classic names cam melur,melati,kenanga, and japanese flower names like sakura, yuri, tsubaki, ehehehehe~