What's in a name?

What's in a name, eh?

I just wanted to touch base with you folks about names...

Names can be happy and conjure up wonderful pictures in our mind's eye. We have Apple, Cruise, Sunday Rose, Shiloh, and Joaquin to name a few.

And if most of the aforementioned names of these people weren't born into a priveleged lifestyle where they would want for nothing, then they would most likely endure years of torment and teasing during their younger lives. Most likely up until the point they reach a cross road in their life where they will be presented with the opportunity to change their name, move, go into therapy, or go and exact revenge on their high school bullies who jeered and made fun of their names through those "wonder years".

The reason for my latest rant is the news story about a couple who, for some reason, have decided to name one of their children Adolf Hilter. Now okay, you should be able to call your child anything you want. It's yours, you made it, no one else did. But you as the parent you won't face the horror and pain that this innocent life will endure having to labour through life with the namesake of the most despised man that people care to remember or forget. But it doesn't just stop at 'Hilter' either. These parents have other children with names like "Arayan Nation" and "Honszlynn Hinler".



Now, while the parents, no matter how kind-hearted or good-natured they believe they are, have subjected this young fragile being to a fate that one would not wish on an enemy. When will we start calling our children Pol Pot, after the genocidal maniac that proceeded to kill an maim anyone who would question him or his motives (the figure is close to 3 million), or why not Edi Amin? Hey, heres a name for ya - Osama Bin Laden, make that your kids name. Why not? It's just a name. At least it's not common. The poor kid's never gonna have any friends though, besides Nazi sympathizers. Yay.



It could all be just a joke, albeit one in poor taste, but this poor child will have to live in fear and loathing of a name that it does not understand the true malice of, its origins - nor should it need to. It will be exposed to hate and confrontation each time it dares to utter its full name, and should any of us really want to live with a burden like that?



Now if the mother and father of these children want to change their own names to what ever they like, then so be it. But to condemn an innocent child though is wrong on so many levels. I really do not believe there is space on a page to list it all. Anyway, that's just something I had to say. Take it, leave it, love it or hate it, it's up to you. I will leave with something I stole from old Bill Shakespeare:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."