Argh! BST = Bl**dy Summer Time!

I appear to have got up an hour early (even after compensating for the BST switch). The reason? I went to bed last night after Louise but unbeknown to me she’d already adjusted the bedside clock, so I went ahead and moved it on another hour!

Oh well, it gives me time to write something here, and have a cup of tea, and prepare for the band’s CD recording.

Last week Lou and I went to Berkhamsted’s Pink Orchid, a Thai restaurant, with our friends who are expecting their first child soon after we have our second. Naturally this was the main topic of conversation, in particular choosing names. I don’t know if everyone has the same experience but here are some things we have to take into account when choosing a new name for a baby:

  • Is it a girl or a boy?
  • Does the choosen name go well with the baby’s surname? (E.g. Wendy wouldn’t be a good name if we have a baby girl!)
  • Will anyone be offended by a choosen name. E.g. If you’ve chosen John as a middle name after the baby’s paternal great granddad, woe betide you if you don’t choose another middle name from the maternal side!
  • Do you want a name that can’t be shortened? We choose Euan partly on this basis, bet despite that his nursery still called him Euie (yewee)!
  • Do you want a name that’s not “common”? E.g. 15 years ago everyone was calling their little girls Kylie after Kylie Minogue from Neighbours.
  • Be careful what the child’s initials might spell out. My brother Eddie (full name Edward Philip Andrew) was very nearly Andrew Philip Edward!

So far, for our new baby we’ve come up with Eva Mai if she’s a girl and Matthew if he’s a boy. Mai comes from Lou’s Nan, but that’s the only deference we’ve made to family names. Eva can’t be shortened, but Matthew could. Haven’t come to any conclusions on a boy’s middle name yet, though I’m not sure why we need to have one as they’re useless anyway.