My Name Is...?

This week I've been writing a Naming Day Ceremony for a local family. As I've been thinking about names and the role they play in our lives, it occurred to me that in choosing a first name parents are often trying to reflect their child's personality in the name. A parent said to me "I saw him and knew immediately what we should call him". Others take longer and weeks may go by as they seek the "best fit" name. It seems that second names are often used to honour a family member or friend; "It was always going to be Lindsay, boy or girl it didn't matter; we wanted to honour his grandfather". Now we come to the challenging decision, what family name do we use? Traditionalists would say the father's name, but why not the mother's; why not the two (mother's and father's in combination) and in our ever evolving world, how do we handle two fathers or two mothers? While we have everything up in the air, why don't we confuse the hell out of Genealogists and just choose a last name as randomly as we choose the others. Please no, as someone interested in family history I don't need any more challenges. It was confusing enough when my own father added an "e" to Clark. So like me take a moment this week to ponder where your names originated and if you don't know try to find out. You might also like to tell your own children, the reason they are named as they are. Let me know what you discover. Have a good one!