Naming your baby

One of the most important and most stressfull things about having a baby can be choosing a name. We all have different tastes in names, some more out there than others but the one thing I have heard lately on more than one occasion is children with names that relate back to medical terminology. The two that stand out for me are:

Melena: which for the poor child in question actually means: "production of black feaces.... caused by bleeding into the bowel" (Encarta Dictionary). I have had to clean up melena on more than one occasion and it is not something I would wish on my worst enemy (won't go into details for anyone that has just eaten). You can imagine how I cringed on sports day with the Mum standing beside me yelling "Go Melena!" Pitty it's too late in the child's life to let the Mum know that perhaps she has made an error with naming her daughter.

Candida: which for this unfortunate child means: "fungus that causes yeast infection" (Encarta Dictionary). Oh dear me, it makes me speechless. I know the parents probably heard it somewhere and thought it sounded pretty but honestly there is nothing in the world pretty or cute about thrush.

Tip number one in naming your baby: look up the dictonary to find out the meaning of your selected name because every health professional will have a silent but sad giggle for your poor child that has a name like Melena (bloody poo) and Candida (thrush) when they call them in a waiting room.