What's In A Name?

Our children have very special names. Each name was especially thought out, debated on and eventually chosen by Brent and me. Some are family names, some came on a whim & fancy, some just seemed to "go". And yes, we named our daughter a "boys'" name: Hunter. I can't remember if I was pregnant or if we were just thinking about having children, but I remember standing in the checkout line at the grocery store one day and there was a picture of Hunter Tylo on the cover of a magazine and in big letters next to her, it said "HUNTER". (I didn't really know who she was at the time.) I was struck by the contrast, a very masculine name on an incredibly gorgeous woman. I thought "Wow, I love that!!" I was certain that Brent would never go for it. He's way more traditional than I am in many ways. But, when I went home and told him about it, he loved it too. He said, "Wow, that's perfect, I love it". And so, Hunter it was. "Hunty", "Hunnie", "Hunt", "Hunter Jean, Beauty Queen". Etc. I think it's very femine on her and unique. There aren't very many female Hunters in the world, but there are a few.

But, being unique is apparently not a good thing when you're a girl in the 3rd grade. Hunter came home one day a couple of weeks ago begging me to send an email to her teacher stating that we were changing her name to "Nicole". I don't think so. I thought it would go away after a few days or a week but every morning she woke up asking if I had "thought about it enough yet". "Thought about what?" I would ask. "You know, the name thing?" She said that Hunter is a boys name and all the kids make fun of her (My sister Lisa did tell me this would happen), and that she just wanted to have a "normal" name. One that has more than one girl in the school with the same name. I explained to her the story of how Daddy and I came up with her name and how much we love it. I googled Hunter Tylo and showed her the pictures. I said, "Does this look like a boy to you?":

I didn't think so. She was quite impressed for a minute and it made her rethink having me call the government to have her name legally changed (this always worked with my sisters and me as I recall b/c we would get scared and change our minds. Lisa was recalling a time when Lonnie wanted her name legally changed to "Gertie" and I recall an experience with the word "Bathroom". I was confused about why this was just a word and not a name. Hunter just asked us if we would loan her the $200 we told her it cost to do get it done.) But, "Hunter Tylo is a model and I'm just a GIRL!" *sobbing*

*sigh*

I didn't want to make her feel guilty about it or anything but I want her to know that her name means a lot. I don't want to encourage her to change with the wind. Because you know, this week it's Nicole, next week it will be Isabella, Gabriella or Jennifer. So we had a long talk about it and we at least got her to hold off the official government name-change for 1 month. And then on Friday I was going through her school papers from this week and I ran across this:

Yes, it say "Alisa McCaig". Just trying it on for size I guess. I'm surprised I didn't get an email from the teacher. Aye.