Alongside, cleaning behind the fridge and under the bed, our "to do" list got one item shorter this week. With four weeks left in utero, Havana's baby sister finally got a name that has stuck.
For several weeks, months ago, we had the name Catriona, which we thought was pronounced as it looks. We emailed a comrade with that name and found out that it should be pronounced kat-ree-na, which undermined the integrity of our bubble, one which finally burst when we learnt of its roots in a certain Saint Catherine. As concious athiests, we struck that one off.
SO. We kicked around many, many names until Karen told me that we needed to cross the name thing off our "to do" before the baby arrives list. So I suggested we each pick 10 names and sit down and come up with an agreed top 3 list.
Then, out of nowhere, a Name appeared to me. It was a creation of genius. It met our 2 requirements. It was political and it sounded good. I was proud of my own brilliance.
June is currently the month of the 30th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising. A movement of grade school students against the apartheid regime in South Africa which ended in bloodshed, but spirred on a huge movement which eventually brought the apartheid regime down.
Okay, I figured to myself, Soweto doesn't sound like a girl's name. However, I a small reshaping, created, "Soweta." Politically great, and it sounded beautiful. Our quest was now over.
"I've got it" I explained to Karen, "its as good as Havana! It's brilliant!"
Well, that was 2 weeks ago.
I have since run into various friends of Karen, who had heard of "the name." Karen had dismissed the name outright for sounding "just aweful" and then one by one I would overhear her friends joking about how bad "the name" was. I had outdone myself this time.
However, "the name" as it is now known with derision, did help give Karen that small push into deciding an entirely different name which did stick. Ilyana.
