What's in a name and What were people thinking in 2014

Importance of Name Meaning

Clearly Juliette had an ulterior motive in saying that a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.   Obviously it would smell as sweet but do we really thing a rose called vomit would be the same?  I have my doubts.  Of course, it is highly likely that knowing what vomit means taints my thoughts on that subject.  

This morning on the news they went through some unusual names that people gave their kids in 2014.  People as in plural named their boys Million, Billion, Dagger, Sadman and Swatstik, yes SWATSTIK.  I mean, all I could think of was there was some crazy group of 10 neo-nazi's out there who thought this was a good idea.  Even sadder is the 7 people who named their daughters Lay.  What exactly are you trying to tell your female child?  

I have read studies saying that female children adapt to different names easier than males but I don't know that that is going to get any little girl past the Lay.  I don't know, maybe if it was spelled Lei or Lai it wouldn't be so strange.  Maybe the parents just like potato chips?  Who knows.  It just seems really odd that 7 families independently came up with this name.  Don't even get me started on the 5-11 families that came up with those boys names.  

So I started to think of the little boy on the baseball team named Sadman.  Every time he comes up to bat, what do you call him?  'Go Sad', 'Go Man'?  What about poor Swatstik?  Can you imagine the first time his girlfriend brings him home to meet the parents?  

This is my boyfriend 'Swatstik'.  Mom "Well, it's nice to meet you um, Swatstika".

 Dad "Son, did your parents not love you?  Why would they name you after a Nazi symbol?  Are you a Nazi?"  You know dad's cut to the chase when their baby girl is involved.  

That is nothing compared to the teasing the kids in school are going to give these kids.  Poor Lay is going to be laid 100 times in high school if the teenage girls are mean.   Poor Dagger will have to learn to defend himself with a name like that really early.  Can you imagine if Lay and Dagger actually meet and start dating?  That would be brutal in High School.  Admit it, there is a part of you that remembers how mean kids were and you know it would! 

I just can't help asking myself: what is wrong with James, Michael, Phillip, and Robert?  What about Elizabeth, Rebecca, and good old fashioned Mary?   Why do some parents feel the need to make their kids targets with something so different?   Kids have it hard enough without giving them a name that is going to make it hard on them.  Don't get me wrong, every child is special and I am not saying that feeling like your child is unique and should be recognized as such is wrong but SWATSTIK?  Come on.  

I grew up with a different last name.  It was pronounced nice (spelled a little different but pronounced NICE). First of all because of the spelling it was always getting pronounced incorrectly and by the time I hit 2nd grade when the teacher would call my name the first day of school the entire class would yell out "NICE"!  It was almost sad, man.  It was also a lot to live up to being Laura Nice.  My last name now is no better, in fact, it may be worse, especially when you combine my maiden name with my married name,  although I prefer to keep that one to myself.  I have never really liked Laura but I have to thank GOD that my parents didn't decide to name me Lapis or Lazuli.  Lapis Nice or Lazuli Nice would have just been the end of it for me.  

Luckily for most kids who aren't named Sadman, their parents see reason.  Here are the most popular names over the last 100 years and I was happy when looking into this blog that the top 10 trend in baby names is actually toward traditional and historic names like Olivia, Sophia, Emma, and Eva for girls and Noah, Jacob, Ethan, and Lucas for boys. 

Source

I am going to make a prediction that with the birth of Princess Charlotte, the name Charlotte will rise in popularity across the world.  That is fine by me, a beautiful name and one that will not get any little girl teased.

Oddly, my father was named James and my mother is Mary the top names in each gender over the last 100 years.  How strange or maybe that's just because I come from a very Catholic family with a LOT of Mary's. 

Now, I have to admit when I was young I had some pretty weird names picked out for my kids.   Taryn if it was a girl, Chance if it was a boy.  (Taryn I heard on an episode of 21 Jump Street and Chance because of the Tinkers to Evers to Chance Chicago Cubs infield).   As I grew older my names for kids changed and became more traditional.  James if it was a boy, after my father and either Emma, Emily, or Kayleigh if it was a girl.  Not a Sadman or Lay in the group.  

So, do you prefer traditional or non-traditional names? 

Easter Weekend Happiness!

What a weekend!  Kentucky lost!  The Lady Irish are on the way to the National Championship, and BASEBALL is back!  Greatness!!!  Aside from that.....

Old and tired 

I swear I didn't stop all weekend.   Between a marathon shopping spree at Walmart Saturday morning.  (Rant Alert: I hate shopping at Walmart.  It is such a beating.  I do not understand why they can't put the same floor plan in all stores.  Why must each be different.  It drives me crazy! I promise you it does not encourage me to shop more it just makes me a bitter, angry shopper),  catfishing on Lake Lavon all day Saturday afternoon (the fish weren't biting but that didn't stop the Easter miracle. We threw back the two we caught and they have a 2nd chance at life as we know it!) and beginning the refinishing of my old table Saturday night.

This is just a peek.  The legs are already color 2 and the top is being "distressed"

This table actually belongs to my husband pre-me and it has 6 matching chairs but I am not hand painting those bad boys.   The paint sprayer will be in full effect for that.  Once I finish the table, I will decide on what color I want to do the chairs but right now I am leaning toward a black chair with light distressing.  Anyhow, this table caused me a few problems.   First, it is veneer.  Second, I did not know it was veneer.  (It was hubs table from his 1st marriage and he doesn't have a memory of important stuff like that but I bet he can tell you all about the pig he shot 20 years ago! XO)   I should have known but they did a good job of faking it.  Even underneath they made it look like it is solid wood.  SIGH!   Anyway, I have something awesome planned...I just wanted to give you a peek.

Easter at our new neighbors 

Easter Sunday while I worked on the table some more, hubs got ready for a party at the neighbors.  My mom had some tragic home improvement problems and so there was no Easter at her house and while we could have done it at mine, the neices and nephews were scattered at odd ex-spouses houses so it was just one of those years where everyone did their own thing.  In a side note, my nephew won his baseball championship this weekend!  So proud of the big guy.  He is becoming quite a young man.  

This was the kid race

So we took fish, hush puppies, and french fries to the neighbors and they had a variety of Mexican goodness including this amazing chicken I am still thinking about and which they confided, I can get at the Mexican meat market 5 miles down the road.   I have been there before but now I know what to get.  Winning!!  I totally believe in learning about different cultures and experiencing the best of all of them and sharing them.  My family is Hungarian and German.  We have certain foods we traditionally make from those cultures.  Where would we be without spaghetti and tortillas and brats? I am so grateful to my neighbors for sharing thier amazing food traditions and for warning me not to put too much of the red sauce on my fajitas.  I was already afraid.  LOL

And this is my kid

Aside from amazing food they were incredibly welcoming and it was so much fun to see a big family celebrate together.   They had all these games and kids running around and it reminded me of my family life when I was a kid and we would go to Thanksgiving at my Aunt Peg and Uncle Walter's. Families are awesome!

Getting ready for the egg toss

Oh and my big and little kid had a great time!

Somehow the egg broke all over hubs face. LOL

I feel so blessed to have been able to spend the holiday with new neighbors and learn so much!   I am so grateful for my family and the fact we are all healthy and things are going pretty well.  I am blessed with just a bunch of positive and I focusing on the blessings.   It is so easy to get bogged down with the trials of life but my hubs looked at me the other day and said something about how things are going in the right direction lately and I said that yes, we are finally getting things in place.  When you sell a house, marry, and buy a house in a month it takes a while to feel at peace.  We are 7 months in now and we are finally getting a routine in place and feeling our way in our home.  Is everything perfect?  No!  He would have rather I spent Saturday night unpacking and tossing stuff out of boxes in the spare bedroom than refinishing that table, I am sure.   I, on the other hand, prefer having things around me look pretty so I can then focus on the hidden fugly! :)

Apparently 3 legs are not better than 2

Did I forget to mention the neighbors invited us to go with them to Monterey?   They are from there and go often and they couldn't believe I have never been to Mexico so they want take hubs and me and show off Mexico.  We are totally on board with this.  It sounds like so much fun!  

This week is full of softball with the kiddo, me picking up a fantastic new project to redo when I finish my table (it's a surprise),  Rangers home opener for me Friday and it looks like the Duck Commander 500 is happening Saturday.   This will be my 1st NASCAR and I am so excited.  First of all, I love Duck Dynasty.   Second, I love Jeff Gordon and it is his last  year.    OMG!  

Happy Opening Day to all my Texas Rangers fans.   

So, how was your Easter?  Did you receive any blessings?