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| name suggestions for number two From Uncle Turner - Hope your last trimester's treating you alright. As a loyal reader of Fixedaddress, I gotta ask: Kevin Spacey? Seriously? Man, if I was Phet I'd be like, "Huzzah! Brad Pitt and his ridiculous washboard abs I couldn't compete with, but Spacey? I'm better looking than Spacey after two hours in Bangkok traffic!" Except that I don't think Phet would ever actually say "Huzzah." Me, I gotta contend with Orlando Freakin' Bloom. Anyway, there you go, my entry in the Name-the-Niedzwiecki-Sayo-Girl Sweepstakes: Huzzah. Think how excited everyone would have to become just to say hello to her by name! It'd be like naming her "Rock On!," only less overt or something. From Auntie Tara - Well, Anne told me about how she had to add to the conversation on names for your yet-to-be-born child and then I went to catch up on the happenings at fixedaddress... and after laughing a lot (Ian Hanomansingh Sayo - HA!), the Doctor is weighing in... But let me back up and explain that I spent the evening with my friends Zack and Jenny (famous for also having a gluten-free family and discussing this at length with your mum and also blogging extensively: www.mockchicken.com). We were eating a liquid dinner (Zack just had his wisdom teeth out) so by the time the topic rolled around to you we had had a fairly large amount of white wine only mildy compensated for by the chicken stew and ice cream (not together...). So, I was explaining the large number of names rhyming with 'Ing' in Phet's family. So, that brought us around to 'Sing'. So Jenny asks 'Like 'Sing Tao' the newspaper?' and Zack asks 'Like 'Tsing Tao' the beer? Tsingtao Sayo has a nice ring to it' And then the beer-related names rolled out (I may have forgotten some): Carlsberg Sayo, Heinekin Sayo, Beer Lao Sayo, Blue Sayo, Ice Sayo, and finally Stella Sayo, which I don't recommend unless you want your daughter's teenage years to be filled with squeaky voiced teenage boys going all Marlon Brando at your house in the wee hours of the morning. But then Jenny chimes in with 'I think an 'S' name would be nice, like Sophie or Sarah or Stacey ... but what if the child had a lisp, imagine 'my name is Thophie Thayo... or Thing Thayo' (more laughter). And then: 'Bingo has her name-o Sayo', Old MacDonald Had A Farm Sayo, Day-o Sayo, In Excelsius Day-o Sayo and then SCOTT BAIO SAYO (!!). A little while later, we were listening to music which resulted in the following suggestions: Blondie Sayo, Bowie Sayo, Major Tom Sayo ... which was then revised to Ground Control Sayo (way cooler). The consensus: Bowie Sayo. Bowie - like Madonna - has been able to reinvent himself over and over again and is a sheer force of talent. Jenny wants to play 'Let's Dance' at her funeral and proceeded to demonstrate how she would look by putting on a black with polka dots scarf tied jauntily around her neck and her funky red running shoes from Target and lying very still while Zack and I pretended we were at her funeral / wake ... Hmmm ... Geeks... More seriously, I am partial to 'Maya' (or Anumaya; the divine creative force in everything) or Mira/Meera or Kiran (meaning ray) ... all Indian names that I have always liked and I think are fantastic girl names that (once upon a time) I could have imagined using myself. From Auntie Anne -  Now that Mr. Dress-up is going off the air FOREVER in September, perhaps Casey or Finnegan might be a nice name for baby #2? While they’re worth considering, I would like to resume the naming campaign that I started five years ago, when we were awaiting Ji’s arrival, though we didn’t known then that he would be Ji. I had hoped you would see the brilliance in Ringo Sayo then and I now hope you’ll see it this time around. Ringo – a fine drummer and the Japanese word for apple. Just say it out loud and tell me that Ringo Sayo isn’t the coolest name ever? I tell ya, I’m on to something here and it’s not like I could name my kid Ringo Sayo. What about an Indian name? There are many, many good ones. Prithi, Shiva (though usually for boys, it could be for a girl, though obviously very powerful) and Shanti, which means peace. I also like Asha and Aisha. My absolute favourite Indian name is Ravi, which means sunshine. Response from me to Anne - I love the name Casey (not just for the Mr. Dressup connotations but also because of Casey Jones out driving that train, high on cocaine, with trouble ahead and trouble behind...not that I want to encourage my daughter to sniff cocaine and drive trains and be genderless but referred to as 'he' and have no pupils in her eyes, but Mr. Dressup and that song have super happy memories associated with them in me brain), but I think a girl child might grow up with some kind of weird complex if she were named after a furry male dog puppet. Plus all those mean second graders who would constantly torment her by singing, "LOTS OF FUN AT FINNEGAN'S WAKE" at her? No thanks. Maybe we can save that one for when we adopt a Chihuahua. From the famous brother - I'd like to throw my two cents into the ring for two's name and say go full-on Anglo-Saxon. Like, say, Thisbe. Or Mab. Bond girls, I think, are a fertile source of inspiration. Some highlights, with Sayo added so you can see the effect: Honey Rider Sayo, Tilly Masterson Sayo, Aki Sayo (not bad, really!), Kissy Suzuki Sayo (!), Plenty O'Toole Sayo (Hah! Plenty! Of tool! Waitaminute... you promise you're a chick?), Solitaire Sayo (aside from the fact that it sounds like a good name for a bounty hunter...well, actually, I like it!), Xenia Onatopp Sayo (backwards, it's Ppotano Ainex!), Christmas Jones Sayo (Denise Richards, of course, and the occasion for the deathless line "I always wanted to have Christmas in Turkey") May Day Sayo (International Bikini Workers of the World, Unite!) "Yes, I'm Thaba, this is my husband, Phet, and our son, Ji Hong. And this is our daughter: Papillon Soo Soo Sayo. Say hello, Papillon Soo Soo. Darling, she's crying again. Stop crying, Papillon Soo Soo. Oh, it's useless. She just cries harder." Alyth, Babwa, Beverly (a.k.a. "Crusher"), Sinnthia, Clothilde, Counsellor Troi, Shusala, Glinda GW Sayo, Hualamphong, Kal-Ella, Plutarcha, Mayo, Murgatroid, Thumper, Chlora, Zoltan, Vesuvia, Tronella, Wembley, Phinnea, Samoa, Submarina - Emma and Adam (Gee, thanks guys! There's just such a trove of riches here I can't imagine how we'd ever pick between these names. I think it might be best if we just hyphenated the whole kit and kaboodle and made it a 22 part name reminiscent of those long fangled monarchical names. But you two have to pay for the birth announcement!) Sorry - gotta add in here that my two top favourites from Em & Adam were the following, both of which made me laff out loud...here they are in caps for your reading pleasure: IAN HANOMANSINGH SAYO QUID PRO QUO SAYO Calamari - Ji Hong (Ji was talking to his Gramma fairly late at night the other week. We've finally decided to stop having him nap in the afternoons and he has been zonking out way earlier. The rationale for the naps has always been a good one: he sleeps so I can get a rest too, and then he wakes up when Phet gets home and gets to enjoy several hours with his father. Buuut over the past three weeks it became clear that he was no longer really having a nap. He was going to sleep for the night and when we woke him up it was like torture. First, it would take 45 minutes to get him conscious, and then he would be a wretched bundle of misery for hours on end, no good to anyone, afterwards. So despite the fact that I am now going to bed at 8:30 cause I'm more tired, it's worth it because Ji is not a devil spawn anymore. Anyways, back to the story: on the night he was talking to his Gramma, Ji hadn't napped and was ready for bed, and was cheerful enough, but was just a few seconds away from freaking out if he things didn't go his way cause he was soooo tired. He was talking to Mum on the phone about names, and then leaned over to me and asked, "Mum, what's that kind of crispy shrimp?" I knew he was on edge so I replied instantly, "Um, grilled shrimp? Fried shrimp? Popcorn shrimp?" Each answer only made him more annoyed that I wasn't understanding him. He looked like he was ready to blow a fuse. Finally, just about to cry, he said, "No, what's that kind of shrimp you dip into creamy sauce?" "OH, CALAMARI!" I said. "Yeah, calamari!" Ji said. Then he turned back to the phone and said to his Gramma, "I think we should name the baby CALAMARI!" (I figure this was some kind of sound association he made with Nicole and Charlotte's suggestion of Shalimar...but you have to admit, Calamari has a nice ring to it!) Rattana - Our Thai teacher, Nic Johanna - Mum (From Gramma Rita's side, but I can't remember if it was her middle name or her Mum's name or both. Must check with Mum.) Sahkyo - Mum (Found on a lame website, but actually a pretty cool name, it means 'Mink' in an unspecified Native American language.) Zing - Ashley - (See also for reference Sing Sayo, Ming Sayo, Ling Sayo, Ing Sayo, and Ping Sayo.) Seegfreed 'Seegy' Sayo - Nicole and Charlotte (Ain't nuthin' wrong with Seegfreed as such, but don't it sound sorta manly?) Shalimar - Nicole and Charlotte (And I quote, "Shalimar is a classic perfume from Guerlain, that was popular, although very exotic, in the 50's. It was inspired by the timeless love story of an Indian Emperor who designed the Shalimar gardens for the wife he adored. The hint of musk from exotic spices such as amber and vanilla were considered too overtly sensual for refined women at first." Oooh, melikes it! Not for refined ladies, having to do with Indian Emperors! Update: checked into things further and the gardens are actually in Lahore and were built by Shah Jahan who, of course, also had the Taj Mahal built. The gardens are divided into three terraces: the bestower of pleasure terrace, the bestower of goodness terrace, and the bestower of life terrace. Not bad, Team Staples-Dorey. And as a final note, kind of cool that the name brings together the essence of Ji's suggestion 'Shaloe' with the name of one of the closest towns to our countryside house - 'Mar', which is also evocative of the name of mine own dear mother.) Sally - Nicole and Charlotte (Nicole notes helpfully, "Charlotte's fish is named Sally." One only hopes it's a coelocanth or piranha!) Savann - Me, Phet (Now, here's a good story...Three weeks ago, I said to Phet one night, "You know, I think if I had to pick a Lao name, I'd pick Savann." It means 'heaven' and is used in people's names and also place names, like the town of Savannakhet. Phet replied that he thought it was nice but that English people would mispronounce it all the time as Savan or SAvan instead of saVANN. Then we went to sleep. Tonight over dinner Phet said to me, "What do you think of the name Savann?" I didn't answer because I thought he was being a joker. Then he went on about it for about five minutes, yapping away and asking me, like, ten times whether I liked the name. Finally I had had it and said that the conversation was getting boring. I thought he was just being a goof and purposely repeating what he'd heard me say. But then he said, "What, don't you like the name?" again, and I had to say, "Don't you remember I was the one who came up with that, like, three weeks ago?" "No," he replied unapologetically, "You did not." Ah, the joys of living with a goldfish for a husband. Mr. Incredible - Ji Hong (We're thrilled about this one and can't wait to use it and then we will spend our days awaiting the moment of our daughter's convocation when we will proudly witness Miss. Mr Incredible Sayo standing up to receive her PhD after completing her doctoral thesis entitled "Why I Frickin' Hate My Stupid Older Brother (And Also My Rotten Parents).) Ping Pong Butt - Ji Hong (Please be aware that all the three elements of this name must be pronounced with equal weight. 'Ping Pong' is not an adjective describing the 'Butt'; rather, the name is pronounced like so: Ping. Pong. Butt. Sayo.) Josephine - Thaba (I actually love this name, but the way we were joking about it, we made it sound like a fake Chinese name by saying it with a Russell-Peters-doing-Chinese-shopkeeper-voice. Jo Sah Feen.) Rain - Phet (Too crunchy. But maybe if it was translated into Chinese it would sound cool?) Mary Juana - Phet (I prefer Mary Jane) Shuqxi ("Susie") - Mum (Not bad) Phreda - Mum (is that 'eee' or 'ehh'?) Sophie - Elizabeth (Lovely) Stella - Elizabeth (Great idea) Abby - Elizabeth (hm, ER?) Celeste - Elizabeth (Pretty!) Elizabeth - Hm.... (Really, the best name of all, but can there be more than one perfectly named person in the family? Wouldn't Elizabeth the second feel forever left behind in the shadows cast by the grand stature of Elizabeth the first?) Zarina - Mary Anne (Cool name, but I think she'd have to come with a lifetime supply of beluga caviar) Tooley Looley - Ji (yeaaaah...) Shaloe - Ji ("like aloe, like the plant aloe") |
