What’s In a Name?

Babies may be cute, but they’re still just as human as anyone else, and just as deserving of respect.  I like to remember that babies aren’t going to be babies for their entire lives.  We certainly hope they’ll live longer than that.  So give them names they can grow into.  Nicknames are all right for friends and family, and it can be fun to play around with nicknames and make up new ones.  The more the merrier, I say.  But people deserve to have official names on their birth certificates that don't make people laugh at them, or at you, behind their backs.  

I would just remember that when your children are fifty years old and sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court, they might wish that instead of Jimmy or Patty or Bubbles or Skip, you had named them James or Patricia, or something else a bit more dignified.  They’ll get more respect, and so will you.