Proserpina
Mother of Dragons
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2012
- Messages
- 1,219
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I knew that I wanted a tattoo from the time that I was a teenager, but I had several problems. The first was that I was nervous about making such a permanent change to my body. It just seemed like, if I was going to do this, it had to absolutely perfect. The second was that I wasn't really sure what I wanted. I had to be sure that my tattoo was going to be something that I loved, that I wouldn't mind having on my body for the rest of my life. I knew that I only wanted one tattoo, so I needed to get this right the first time.
Over the years I went through different ideas on what to get, sometimes inspired by what other people had. For example, I was and am a Christian, and one of my youth leaders at church had a small cross on the bottom side of his big toe, so I thought about that for a while. Another Christian friend had an ichthys on her back, and I thought about getting something similar. Jennifer Knapp, my favorite Christian musician at the time, had a crown of thorns on her bicep. Another time I was watching a television show wherein the actress bent over and I saw that she had a rose in "tramp stamp" position, and I thought, "damn, that's sexy. Now that's what I want!"
The problem was, every time that I told someone else what I wanted, they would make a comment to the effect of, "that's stupid." Or, "don't do that, everybody does that." When I was in rose-phase, one of my friends even said to me (before I had told him what I wanted), "Just make sure it isn't one of those f***-me roses." "Um, no!" I said nervously, "It's nothing stupid like that." And then I would go back to the drawing board on what I wanted.
By the time I was 28, I finally made up my mind, and I knew that I had to just get it over with and not tell people what I wanted, or else I was never going to get it done. While I was out of town on a trip to Seattle, I had it done and surprised my husband with it when I returned to Chicago. I'm not telling you what I got because that's not the point of this thread. All that matters was that I decided on something that was 100% me, and then I went out and did it, and I didn't let anybody tell me that they didn't like my idea or talk me out of it. And I freaking LOVE my tattoo.
I think that naming your baby is a lot like getting a tattoo. It lasts for a lifetime and once you've done it, it's hard if not impossible to take it back. People have very different tastes in names just like they have very different tastes in tattoos, and if you tell people your preferences in advance, you are going to get a lot of negative feedback. So your options are: (1) Don't tell people in advance; let them find out when they get the birth announcement and the deed is done, or (2) Prepare to not be discouraged by the negative feedback.
Some names are ridiculously common. In America, Jacob, Sophia, Mason, and Isabella are the current "f***-me roses" of the baby-names world. But you know what? Some people like those "f***-me" roses. They're popular for a reason. So if the name you love happens to be popular right now, don't let that stop you. All that matters is that (1) YOU love it, and (2) your kid won't be socially stigmatized by it.
Over the holidays, DH's parents asked us about our intended baby names. They were fine with our preferred girl's name, but horrified by our boy's name. Our preferred boy's name is pretty exotic, so I'm sensing that we'll get a lot of that. Today I was talking with DH, and I said, "You know what? When we get pregnant with #2, let's just not tell people what we're going to name the baby. I love the names we've picked out, I don't need anyone's approval, and I don't want to hear their protests." He agreed that this was a good idea, so that's what we're going to do.
Just my run-on thoughts on names. Happy naming!
Over the years I went through different ideas on what to get, sometimes inspired by what other people had. For example, I was and am a Christian, and one of my youth leaders at church had a small cross on the bottom side of his big toe, so I thought about that for a while. Another Christian friend had an ichthys on her back, and I thought about getting something similar. Jennifer Knapp, my favorite Christian musician at the time, had a crown of thorns on her bicep. Another time I was watching a television show wherein the actress bent over and I saw that she had a rose in "tramp stamp" position, and I thought, "damn, that's sexy. Now that's what I want!"
The problem was, every time that I told someone else what I wanted, they would make a comment to the effect of, "that's stupid." Or, "don't do that, everybody does that." When I was in rose-phase, one of my friends even said to me (before I had told him what I wanted), "Just make sure it isn't one of those f***-me roses." "Um, no!" I said nervously, "It's nothing stupid like that." And then I would go back to the drawing board on what I wanted.
By the time I was 28, I finally made up my mind, and I knew that I had to just get it over with and not tell people what I wanted, or else I was never going to get it done. While I was out of town on a trip to Seattle, I had it done and surprised my husband with it when I returned to Chicago. I'm not telling you what I got because that's not the point of this thread. All that matters was that I decided on something that was 100% me, and then I went out and did it, and I didn't let anybody tell me that they didn't like my idea or talk me out of it. And I freaking LOVE my tattoo.
I think that naming your baby is a lot like getting a tattoo. It lasts for a lifetime and once you've done it, it's hard if not impossible to take it back. People have very different tastes in names just like they have very different tastes in tattoos, and if you tell people your preferences in advance, you are going to get a lot of negative feedback. So your options are: (1) Don't tell people in advance; let them find out when they get the birth announcement and the deed is done, or (2) Prepare to not be discouraged by the negative feedback.
Some names are ridiculously common. In America, Jacob, Sophia, Mason, and Isabella are the current "f***-me roses" of the baby-names world. But you know what? Some people like those "f***-me" roses. They're popular for a reason. So if the name you love happens to be popular right now, don't let that stop you. All that matters is that (1) YOU love it, and (2) your kid won't be socially stigmatized by it.
Over the holidays, DH's parents asked us about our intended baby names. They were fine with our preferred girl's name, but horrified by our boy's name. Our preferred boy's name is pretty exotic, so I'm sensing that we'll get a lot of that. Today I was talking with DH, and I said, "You know what? When we get pregnant with #2, let's just not tell people what we're going to name the baby. I love the names we've picked out, I don't need anyone's approval, and I don't want to hear their protests." He agreed that this was a good idea, so that's what we're going to do.
Just my run-on thoughts on names. Happy naming!
