Friday, May 16, 2008

Maybe that's where the Larrys and Sharons come from

Our neighbours are expecting their second child. In fact their baby girl will enter the world today but she will be nameless.

The parents have been struggling for the past seven months or so on what to name "Baby Girl" and have not, as of last night, come to a consensus so the child will be anonymous at birth.

Many names have been suggested, probably too many, but as yet none have passed muster. Despite some wide spread appeal it appears that the suggestion by their 4 1/2 year old son of Queen Chocolate will not win out so they have a bit of a dilemma on their hands.

It's okay though because in British Columbia you have thirty days after the birth of a child to register the child's name with the government ........ or what ?

I mean what if you haven't decided after thirty days. Does the government then step in and name the child ? Does the child have to go through life as "Baby Girl" ?

My personal theory is that there is an office in the back of the Legislative Building in Victoria where an aging civil servant plays out his last days before retirement providing government approved names.

These names would, naturally, hearken back to the soon to be pensioned off bureaucrat's youth. In the 1950s, for example, both Larry, #18, and Sharon, #14, were popular names for children born in the US but by 2007 they had fallen to #322 and #715 respectively.

I mean honestly, can you imagine anyone willingly naming their child Larry or Sharon in this, the age of Ethan and Emma, the era of Joshua and Ashley ?

When was the last time you were at the park and heard a parent call out:
"Sharon, Larry, hurry up it's time to go home !".

If you did hear it just shake your head and realize that not once, but twice did those parents forget to pick a name for their kids - unless of course they were twins in which case I think you should get 60 days.