Okay so this one comes with a hint
of self promotion, but evidently millions of bloggers solely blog to drum up some trade, so why should I be any
different!?
Joking aside I am still solely
blogging for fun (as if anyone actually clicks the adverts!), but I’m tweaking
this one a bit, to help the one who lets me spend hours writing them!
Baby Names
So what will be the
most popular baby names for 2014? Top of their respective trees for 2013 were Olivia
and Oliver (no, really!), but trends dictate that they may not stay there for too
long.
Does one go for a
traditional name? Family names still come into play in the decision making
process quite often…or maybe an outlandishly unique effort? The omnipresent
Peter Andre recently told Magic FM’s Jo
Parkerson in an interview
that his eldest daughter is fed up with her given name of ‘Princess’ and
already wants to change it. Hopefully she won’t though – the more unique an
individual you are, the better. Why be normal?
Being a child of
the 80’s, it’s been quite funny over the last few years engaging with people that
are approximately 15 years younger than me called Kylie, Jason, Scott and
Charlene – proof (if ever it was needed) that television influences our choices
in life on so many levels. For my younger readers, please click here to see what those
above names relate to!
How many children
born this year will be named after Game of Thrones characters I wonder? Khaleesi Daenerys
anyone? Surely not Joffrey though…
So once you’ve
chosen a name for your precious little one, and you’ve registered their birth
with the authorities, how do you go about celebrating it?
Traditionally, Christenings
or similar have been the rite of passage for babies, but in these modern times,
other options are available – such as Naming Days. An increasing amount of families are choosing to formally
celebrate in such a non/part religious, modern or alternative way. The beauty being
that you can tailor the event to exactly how you want it to be, and make it
much more personalised than perhaps traditional methods have historically allowed
for. For example, Naming ceremonies are being hosted to welcome adopted children
and step children into families. It can even be done for pets!
Earlier this
year, though not due in any part to being ‘anti-religion’, but more about being
‘non-religious’ in our own beliefs, my wife and I opted for our daughter to
have one of these Naming ceremonies. We’d both been Christened ourselves, but we
did some research into alternatives and decided to choose something that would
allow our child in the future to take a route in life or spirituality that she herself
wanted to pursue.
A Naming
Celebrant conducted the ceremony in our back garden in glorious sunshine
amongst many friends and family, and it just felt so much more comfortable and
relaxed that way. Similar to how Christenings work, we selected Godparents and let
them choose readings and poems that they felt summed up the role they were
about to accept. Candle lighting, sand ceremonies and music were also all
included at our request.
Godparents you
say? I guess it sounds a bit contrary, given that the ceremony was deliberately
religion free, but the point is that it was entirely up to us what we called
them. We could have chosen Guide-parents for example, but we went with a bit of
tradition after all – because that is what WE wanted to do. Flexibility rules!
So pleased were
we with the positive response the ceremony received from those attending, my
enterprising wife decided to launch her own mini-business as a Naming Celebrant
within days of our daughter’s big day! She’d done a few similar ventures
herself when she was a trainee teacher, and felt it was something she would
really enjoy doing for other families.
And what a
response she got!
Enquiries came flooding in and
already she has performed a number of ceremonies, all individually styled to
how the recipient family wanted it to be. Even local BBC Radio got involved
with popular presenter Sarah Gorrell hosting a live on air interview.
Clearly it’s a booming option,
but more than anything else, it simply offers a different route for something
that had seemed set in stone until very recently.
Don’t join the revolution, join
the evolution: Brighton Baby Naming
