What's in a name

My daughter Llara blames all her faults on the fact that she was deprived of a Scooby stuffed animal during her childhood. No matter that as an adult she has a small collection of the beasts, she says the damage was done.

Her second laying on of maternal blame is on her name, mainly the double L. Having had a common name I wanted to make sure hers was an original. However, she has had to put up with being called Llama, Clara and Yara. Even when she sends for things that have her name on them they often come back wrong.

An article in the Swiss magazine Femina discusses how names identify us and can almost be a predictor of success. For example if two men with identical credentials named Charles and Robert, Charles (Pronounced Sharl in French) the Charles/Sharl will be more likely to advance up the corporate ladder (there are other factors like their army status but that wasn’t mentioned in the article).

Names were also considered an example of economic/social status. Côme (aristocracy) would never marry Beverly (non aristo), because they wouldn’t move in the same social circles so they would never meet, the article claimed.

Although I was never thrilled with my name, I will be forever grateful to the writer of a film that my mother saw a few nights before I was born. I was to be named Bonnie. The writer had called a cocker spaniel Bonnie. I am so un-Bonnie. My name as well as the name Bonnie are too Anglo to figure in Francophone name research.

Of course there are in-names each year. This year the most popular girl’s name in Switzerland is Sarah with various spellings and Matteo for boys. The popular of Sarah is attributed to the popularity of Sex and the City. Lara with one L was number 4. As my daughter suggested it is probably because of the Belgian singer Lara Fabian.