It’s All In The Name

Names are incredibly important. Parents spend whole pregnancies deliberating over what to name their new born. Some don’t decide until they see the child’s face where as some know well in advance what they want their child to be called. In my family my brother and I have names which link to our parents in one way or another. My middle name is Jayne as is my Mum’s but hers is spelt without a y, my brother’s middle name is Conrad after my Dad’s Grandfather. These sorts of trends are not uncommon and are often passed down from generation to generation.

Names grow to help define who we are. Sometimes parents choose a name for a child that is indicative of the type of person they want their child to become. For example some people will give their child a strong name like John or James or an individual name like Rain or Wylda. Other people will give their children names which can evolve as they age, for example a child you might call Tommy when he’s young can be Tom or Thomas in later years. Some parents prefer names which can be shortened like Daniel to Dan or Catherine to Cath. Some parents don’t.

Our names form part of our identity we put them in our coats when we are young so when we lose them at school they can be returned to us, we put them on placards on our desk along with our title to show people who we are and we use them to introduce ourselves to people and make friends.

I remember being young and choosing to use the shortened form of my name and have done ever since. I also chose to spell it with an ‘i’ and the end not a ‘y.’ Personalised kids gifts I received when I was young were always misspelled as options were limited but luckily this no longer has to be the case. Personalised kids gifts can be just that if bought from Illustrate My Name. Strange spellings and unusual names are no problem, meaning the possibilities are endless. If you need a gift for a child who has an individual name then visit their website for a full list of all the personalised gifts they can produce. The website is http://www.illustratemyname.com