What’s in a name?

Have you ever really thought about your first name? Have you ever wondered what it meant? Was your name plucked out of a 1001 Baby Names book? My first name is Kim – not Kimberly, Kimber or Kimble. When I was growing up, Kim was a pretty unusual name to have. My friends had names like Jessica, Susan, Karen, Helen, Lisa or Penny. I always liked my name but, as with most kids, I was landed with a couple of nicknames – Kimbies (presumably after the nappy brand) and Kimba (presumably due to Simba). I certainly didn’t like the Kimbies business, so I chucked a hissy fit in high school and for 3 years changed my name to Victoria, which is my middle name. But I ended up not liking the shortening of this to Vicki (or worse, Vicks) so it was back to Kim by the time I hit University.

I still like my name and am secretly pleased that it’s not that popular (at least in Australia). It doesn’t even rank in a list of the top 1,000 baby names I looked at. And this list shows the popularity of Kim as a name in countries around the world – certainly Kim is not up there as a favourite. A few years back, I was being introduced at a conference in Thailand by someone who hadn’t yet met me and was referred to as “Mr Kim”. Kim, of course, is a popular Asian surname (mainly Korean) and I’m sometimes asked when in Asia why I have this name as a Westerner.

So what’s in a name? How does our name define our identity? When I asked my mother why I was called Kim she told me it wasn’t her choice. It was my grandmother’s and my father’s selection. My grandmother said she’d always loved Kipling’s book, Kim, and my father said I was named after Kim Novak, the Hollywood actress. Personally, I preferred the latter explanation rather than being named after a male character in an essentially male novel of colonial India. My mother was going to land me with these names: Brydie, Blanche, Brittany, Bethany or Bridget (clearly, there was a thing going on with Bs). I simply cannot imagine myself as, for example, a Blanche – it changes the whole way I think about myself. I’d imagine being much older, a smoker (which I’m not), a fragile, troubled, emotional personality (sorry to any Blanches reading this post). I’m probably being influenced by Blanche in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire or Blanche in The Golden Girls.

I like Kim because (IMHO) it’s a strong name, short and punchy. It’s a no nonsense kind of name. Apparently, it’s of Anglo-Saxon origin and means variously: chief, ruler, precious metal, gold. Okay I can deal with all those meanings especially the gold part! And my name is declining in popularity from its starting base as not so popular anyway – so that makes me even more unique. Check out this table I found of the popularity trend for Kim – since 1993 it seems Kim has slipped off the radar.

I’ve always been fascinated by the names given to African-American children – Delroy, Jermaine, Tyjon, Latreese, Larhonda, Chantoya – to name a few I’ve heard. Much more exotic than plain old Kim. But if you happen to live in Africa, you might just be called Passion, Givethanks, Honour, Trust or even Knowledge. Although I work in KM, not sure I’d want to be lumbered with the moniker Knowledge. There is a trend towards Anglicising names, but the African tradition is to choose names that convey a special meaning, whereas Western names are usually chosen because they’re trendy or remind us of celebrities.

If a Sotho-speaking girl becomes pregnant before marriage, her unhappy parents may name the baby Question or Answer — an answer to the question of why their daughter was behaving so strangely before the pregnancy became known. Zimbabwean children carry names like Wedding, Funeral, Everloving, Passion and Anywhere. And a cafe worker in Harare is called Consider Enough because he is the last of 13 children and his mother thought…consider that enough! Never Trust a Woman is a baby named by his father who was off fighting in the Congo and when he returned home to Bulawayo, his wife presented him with a baby that he hadn’t fathered.

According to my Thai friend, Lalida, things can get a bit complicated when choosing a name for a Thai baby. Parents will consult a monk or astrologer so that they pick an auspicious name that will bring good fortune to the child. And the day the baby is born is taken into account – certain letters and vowels are avoided – so for example if the baby was born on a Monday, no vowels are used in the name. You can read about the complicated process of choosing a Thai name over at Thai Blogs.com. I don’t how I’d feel about being given a Thai nickname though. Popular ones are Pig, Crab and Fat. But increasingly the English language is influencing Thai culture and now you can find nicknames like Seven (as in 7-Eleven). One child was named Bonus because he was born on Chinese New Year and his father received a bonus from his company.

Intrigued, I found the list of popular baby names for 2006 from the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages:

Given Name	Number of Babies Registered
Chloe	519
Charlotte	488
Ella	475
Emily	474
Olivia	465
Jessica	440
Isabella	415
Mia	394
Sophie	383
Sienna	332

Given Name	Number of Babies Registered
Jack	720
Joshua	660
William	625
Lachlan	605
Thomas	569
James	531
Daniel	457
Noah	413
Ryan	408
Ethan	404

I suspect that Sienna has crept into the list due to the UK actress, Sienna Miller. And the boys’ list shows a strong liking for Biblical names.

So…..what is the meaning of your name and how does it define your identity? if you could change it, would you? And to what?

Inspiration: International Herald Tribune