It seems that people are often in search of two things which can cause them a conflict. They want to be seen as a unique individual, and they do not want to be treated than other people. It seems that people crave standing out and fitting in at the same time. Recently people have been trying to give their children uniqueness by giving them unusual names. This has good and bad aspects. In a good light children see they are unique and know that they are an individual because they do not have to learn the concept of sharing the same name as someone else. As a difficulty unique names are often mispronounced and difficult to spell so children have to correct others. Many times people with unusual names are given nicknames so that people can pronounce them, they can also be teased or made fun of because of a strange name.
My son and his wife are expecting their first child. They know through an ultra sound that they are having a boy. They have been searching for baby boy names since they found out the sex of the baby. My daughter-in-law at times has very different ideas so I have been concerned about what type of baby boy names she is going to come up with. She bought a book of names to find out different meanings. She is into psychology and also the zodiac. She believes that what ever you are named this will be your destiny. I tease her that she will be giving birth to the next messiah because her name is Mary. She constantly complains about her common name. I think that this is why she is spending so much time looking at baby boy names. My son is stressing about this because he remembers teasing kids in his class in school who had unusual names. He fears that if his wife insists on a strange name his son will be ridiculed and called by a nickname anyway. My daughter-in-law insists that whatever baby boy name they decide on that this is what everyone will call the child she does not want them to be called by a shortened version or nickname. I have tried to warn her that she cannot control what other people decide to do. As the baby grows and matures he may decide that he would rather have people call him something different than the name she gives him.
When my son asked me for my opinion I told him that my only wish for them is that their baby is healthy. That no matter what name they give to him I will love him because he is their child, and will be my first grandchild.
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