Dear LPG,

I know that I am not the only one but I am about to become a great-grandmother for the very first time and, even though I know that fewer and fewer potential grandparents are being given the chance to offer influence when it comes to suggesting names for little ones these days, I am sure that I am not the only grandmother who has had a little look at the meaning of the names that our grandchildren have hinted at.

Using the limited experience I have of the subject, I find that twenty to thirty year old mums and dad’s tend to go for some bizarre names these days.  I think that dad’s just go along with most of them while potential mums let their imaginations go wild at a time like this and the baby girls have been the most unlucky over the years.

Young parents are more likely to give a new son a more traditional name while girls get labelled with all sorts.   I remember as a young mum trying to find something really different by way of a name for my daughter but these days I find some of the girl’s names really odd.  I have to admit to being in a supermarket one after noon recently and finding the repeated calling of a mother to her mischievous little daughter named ‘Shaniqua’ quite irritating after the fifth repetition.  I think if that mother was repeating Joan or Mary, I would not have been quite so peeved.

…But back to my potential grandchild…

I could not help it; I took a look at baby’s names online, but my search lead me to check out the significance of my own name with a question on my mind.  I know that all names have meanings and wanted to know if I had lived up to the name my parents chose for me.

I am not going to tell you what my first name is, but I did find a website which offers meanings for first names and I think that I do live up to my name to a greater extent.  

Having done the research, I thought it only right to share it in case any readers who are expecting (grandchildren or greatgrandchildren) at the moment and may have an interest.  Or perhaps, like me, there may be a reader or two who just want to learn a bit about the significance of their own name.

CJ, Lewisham.

CJ shares the links to some websites where readers will be able to learn the meanings of names and how popular they are…

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