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Friday Smile

If you've been to Abbotsford, you've likely been to the little British tea shop & candy story just outside of town. It's a tradition for us to go - partially for the tea, partially for the candy, and partially for the lovely British lady who runs the place. We stopped in this afternoon and she was fussing over Briony for a while before asking what her name was.

If you've named your own child something slightly less common than Jennifer or Amanda, then you know exactly how this conversation typically goes...

Stranger: Cute baby. What's her name?
Lindsay/Geoff: Briony.
Stranger: What?
Lindsay/Geoff: Her name is Briony.
Stranger: Hm. What an... interesting... name.
Lindsay/Geoff: (taking a deep breath to launch into an explanation about how Briony is a perfectly legitimate name that's slightly more common in Britain, and how we chose it because Geoff's family is British, and that whole song and dance)

This time, the conversation went more like this:

Stranger: Cute baby. What is she called?
Lindsay/Geoff: Briony.
Stranger: Lovely.
Lindsay/Geoff: (taking a deep breath to launch into our typical defence, just before realizing that the owner of the shop is British and didn't think for a second that we'd chosen an unusual name)

And that, friends, is most definitely my Friday Smile.

The whole baby naming thing is just as fascinating to me now as it was when we were in the middle of debating the pros and cons of Briony - and a dozen other names that we liked - while I was pregnant. It's such a personal decision, and it blows my mind that people constantly seem to offer up their own opinions.

Incidentally, Geoff and I both still absolutely love Briony - the name AND the goofy baby girl who lives with us :)

Labels: Friday Smile

posted by Lindsay @ 4:40 PM