Evidence that there are all kinds of ways to choose baby names
One remarkable fact about my mother, who took her own life at thirty-one after years of alcoholism, and was in most respects disorganised and chaotic, is that she named all four of her offspring before birth. We all had a name ready-made, whether a boy or girl. It's one of the few positive memories I have of her parenting. But you have to suck the juice out of some situations. So efficient! That's the birth-name equivalent of having everything in labelled Tupperware, arranged on your kitchen shelves in size order. I can assure you, my mother's kitchen did not look like this. So, she wasn't consistent, but the name idea counts in her favour. Here's how it worked. I am Frances. If a boy, I would have been Francis. My brother was named Leslie. He would have been Lesley. My sister was Christine. She would have been Christopher. My younger sister was Michaela. She would have been Michael. Have you ever heard of anyone else doing this? Usually, you hear people sa...