One of the perks of
reproducing, some days it feels like the only perk, is getting to choose a name
for your child.
The accountant and I took this
process very seriously. You see, we don’t believe you should pick a name just
because you like it. Don’t get me wrong, liking your chosen name is fairly
essential. But when I ask people why they chose their child’s name and their
response is “oh, we just both liked it”, well, it’s kind of anticlimactic, and frankly
a little boring. So, below is the story of where Conrad James comes from.
Most people’s first reaction
when we tell them our baby is named Conrad is “Is that like an All Black crush thing?”
While Conrad Smith does present as one of the more intelligent and articulate
AB’s, the fact is that Chris Robshaw, captain of the English team, makes the
entire All Black squad look like a pack of gorillas. However, that being said,
Conrad Smith was the original inspiration for the name. Him and Ben, one of oldest
and dearest friends. Throughout my pregnancy Ben suggested literally at least a
hundred names, and the list compromised entirely of cricket, rugby union and
NBA players.
Eventually the name Conrad came
up, and I remember thinking “hmm, Conrad is actually a pretty cool name”. I
glanced over at the accountant, and I could tell by the look on his face that
he was thinking the same.
The next step was to look up
the meaning of Conrad. You see, no matter how much we liked a name, if it had a
weak or irrelevant meaning, it was immediately scrapped. As Christians, we
believe that there is a lot of power in a person’s name. In the Bible, names are
very significant, and a lot of thought was given to their meaning. We wanted to
find a name that we not only liked the sound of, but that had a strong meaning
as well.
Sometimes this was hard. For
example, the accountant and I both really liked the name Philippa until we
discovered it meant ‘lover of horses’. Unfortunately, we both have a completely
irrational yet deep seated hatred of horses. The accountant hates them because
he thinks they are a complete waste of money and he can’t stand following horse
floats on the motorway. I dislike them for the same reason I’m not really a cat
person, neither cats nor horses seem to have any comprehension of their place
in the food chain. I’ve seen some nasty horse related injuries come through the
hospital and every time I think ‘How fricking dare you horse! Do you not
realise it only takes one bullet?’ But the horse people never seem to mind that
their beloved pet has just shattered every bone in their foot or whatever. I
just don’t get it at all.
Anyway, sad as it was,
Philippa had to go. For us to produce a lover of horses would be a complete travesty.
Happily, Conrad has an
excellent meaning, ‘brave counsel’. In other words, someone who isn’t afraid to
tell it like it is. Our prayer for Conrad is that when he is our age, he will
be the guy his mates go to for advice. That he will be wise enough to know what’s
right, and brave enough to say it.
His middle name James is after
my Grandfather. He died long before I was born, but he is very special to my
Grandma, and she is very special to me. We also happen to have several friends
who have James as part of their name, so it fits in well.
Whether or not Conrad will
turn out to be a wise and honest person is yet to be seen. I find the responsibility
of ensuring he turns out to be a decent human being quite overwhelming when I
dwell on it too much. So, for now I am focusing on the little things, like
trying to stop him feeding too much and then vomiting his entire stomach
contents in to my bra.
Yep. Parenting.
Such fun.
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