she cries your name

i have a pngian friend named dulcie, who's younger than me but has 3 kids; sometimes she drops by to hang out and tell stories. Lately she's been in a bit of trouble - but that's another tale; what i wanted to mention today was her visit at lunch time. she brought her little baby - it's about six months old, and this one is a cutie, with big black eyes and long eyelashes and the softest skin imaginable. i couldn't remember the baby's name - and i asked dulcie - and dulcie said, "She doesn't have one yet. You can name her. You pick her name and you give it to her." Oh, the temptation!

But ultimately I declined. If it had been a boy, there are a couple of names I would have suggested. But I couldn't think of any good girl ones - and it's a big responsibility, being the namer: you're implicated in the child's future (someone was telling me that they were once asked for uni fees; an extreme example, but you get the picture). (This morning too someone was telling me that they'd met a child called Einstein. You do get some funny names here; lots of biblical ones - I know 3 guys called Moses - and 1950s anglo ones: I work with Theresa, Isabella, Priscilla, Laurencia, Bernadette...)