How did you decide what to call your child?
Since I have three children, that makes three different stories. I'll try to keep it short
First child: I always knew if I ever get a boy, I would name him
David. But my firstborn was a girl and so we named her
Hannah. I don't know anymore where we had this idea from, but we knew pretty soon that the child's name would be Hannah.
Second child: for a boy see above. But it was a girl again. The inspiration for her name came from the actress Helen Mirren. We didn't name her after Mrs. Mirren, but we like her and that's where we first heard the name
Helen.
Third child: this time a boy. At first it was clear he will be a David, but then I thought
Michael would be nice, too. I went back and forth between David and Michael. I simply couldn't decide between these two names. So I went into labour room and thought I would decide when the baby is born.
When he was born, I looked at him and thought: No, you are not a David. And you are not a Michael. You look like an
Oliver.
I still don't know where the inspiration came from. We never considered the name Oliver before. It was not amoung my favourite names. But when I saw him, I just
knew he is Oliver and nothing else.
For me it was important to have names for my children that are both: German and English. Hannah, Oliver, Michael, David: they are pronounced differenty in both languages, but are clearly the same name.
And I wanted names that are commonly known, but not worn-out. I would not give my child a name from the top ten, but also nothing extraoridinary like
Gwendolyn (by German measures).
Can a 'good' or 'bad' name influence your character?
No. I'm a sceptic and do not believe in things like forshadowing, good or bad omens and so on.
But I know that specific kinds of persons do prefer specific names. For example a connection can be made between the social standing of parents and the names they give their children.
And since the parents and the social envirement have huge impact on the child, this can make a difference.
For example,
Kevin, Justin and Steven are typical "underclass" names where I live. I think 20 years from now it will be more likely for a Kevin to belong to the so-called underclass than for a
Magnus-Joswig.
But that's the difference between correlation and causation: the reason is not that Kevin is a "bad" name, but both factors (name and social standard in 20 years from now) are dependent from a third factor (social standard of the parents today).
Do you have, or have you encountered, a strange or unusual name?
Many, many. But I can't think of a single one right now
.
