A Chutney By Any Other Name Would Taste As Sweet

I've always been fascinated by names. As a little girl, I would spend hours studying baby name books. (My parents just kept having babies, so there were always plenty of baby name books lying around.) I was intrigued by the way different names sounded and prided myself on knowing the meanings of various names. For example, did you know that Cameron means "crooked nose" or that the name Mallory means "unfortunate"? These are all tips I gleaned from a childhood spent obsessed with the naming process.

When I was a little girl, I always detested having an ordinary name. Don't get me wrong, I like my name, but, sadly, thousands of other people were also drawn to my name around the year 1978. Having the name Amber also grouped me in with the many other generic names of my generation. To this day, I am constantly confused with persons bearing the names Jennifer, Amy, Heather, or, most often, Amanda. It really bugs me. As a child, I remember envying the little girls who had unique names. It seemed that my life would certainly be much more exciting if I was named...say...Kalani, Shiloh, Sage or Anna Jane. (I experienced name envy with each of these names when I was younger.) In first grade, I even tried to change my name to my middle name (Camille) for a little while just to be fun. As a practical person, though, I quickly decided that I couldn't finish my work as quickly with two whole extra letters to worry about.

So that was the background story because I love details. :)

Here is the real story...

Almost six years ago, Josh and I first announced the name of our darling baby boy to the world. We had intentionally kept his name a secret, mainly because we thought it would help people to keep their opinions to themselves if the little guy had already been given a name. We put great consideration into choosing a name that was unique, but not freaky, couldn't be confused with a girl's name, and was easy to spell and pronounce. Josh, as always, was careful to make sure that the name didn't rhyme with anything unfortunate or sound like some gross body part. We decided to name our son Major Gray Smith, because that was the name we had already chosen in the event that Mary Alice surprised us by being a boy. We were in love with the name. It was masculine. It sounded solid and strong. Nobody would confuse him for a girl. There wouldn't be nine million of them. We thought it was the perfect name for our little guy. Of course, as with any name, you can't please everybody. Most of the responses we received upon announcing the name were positive. We attributed any negative responses to the name (very few) to cases of bad taste, obviously. :)

Here are a few of the comments we heard upon announcing his name to the world, along with my responses/commentary (when appropriate):

1) "He's going to be made fun of" (True, he was made fun of once by a boy who also called him a "mountain head"...It happens...)

2) "You're kidding." (This was said by family members who truly thought Josh was playing an April Fool's Day joke.)

3) "I didn't like his name at first, but now I do."

4) "It sounds like a dog's name." (I strongly disagree. I don't place it at all in the same category as Fido, Spot, or Scooby Doo. Besides, these days, ANYTHING sounds like a dog's name.)

Perhaps the most shocking was this response...

5) "Major Gray? You mean, like the chutney? (followed by loud laughter)"

Chutney??? Chutney??? In all of my days of research on sounds, meanings, it had never once occurred to me that the name for my son might also be a food product!

Anyway... My son, Major Gray is named after a chutney. We purchased his namesake this week and ate it tonight with some leftover chicken.

It was yummy, by the way...







Even Milla liked her Major Grey. :)