What it's in a name?

Most of us have got "normal" names but there are a handful who were given unusual names that later become the bane of their lives in later years.
For example, back a decade or two, there was one man who was so obsessed with the Brazilian football team that he name his new-born son with all the names of the entire Brazilian football team.
Needless to say, I am still curious as to what his teachers in school call him in his schooling years.
My dad named me after his good buddy from his childhood. Fortunately, that friend's name is not Dumbo!
Generally, Christians name their children after the saints in heaven or in the Christian books. But these days, parents are becoming more sophisticated. They want society to give them due recognition due to their imaginative ways of naming their children.
No more "Michael", "John" or "Peter" for them. Nowadays, it's Tex, Dexter, Hanson, Ariel, Siegfried or Conan. While, some of us applaud the parents for wanting their children to be identified as unique individuals, we also at the same time sympathise with the child for carrying the burden of having names that can put them in an odd situation.
For example, some parents in the Far East have named their sons "Osama". That's fine but a poor attempt to drawing attention to the poor child. Then, you have a girl who may be named Hyacinth. That's a flower but it is so uncommon that her friends may actually shorten it to "Hayya" for convenience.
Parents should actually think carefully what names they should give their children. There are no prizes for being adults with the most fertile imagination.
So far I have not come across any child whose name is Godzilla but it wouldn't surprise me if I did. Some parents in their obsession to gather a reputation for themselves and unintentional everlasting torment for their child put in their birth records the most ridiculous names you can think of.
For example, how does it feel if you are too young to know better but you have just been named "Spiderman" by your dad who's crazy about the comic character. It could also be Spartacus or Taras Bublba.
I have not ruled out the possibility of a coffee-fanatic Italian father naming his son "cappuccino" instead of just plain "bambino". Just think of the boy's growing years whenever he passes by a coffee shop or happens to be in Starbucks with his friends. The hilarity of the occasion does not escape me.
We really have to be careful how our children are named because it could add a certain lustre to that child's future career or give him a terrible burden which he doesn't deserve.
So till the next Hercules comes along, may I not see another person named Wolverine coming my way!!





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