Is a person's name important?

It’s my opinion that naming a child is a sacred art. After all, a person carries a name throughout life.

It is a mark of either distinction or not. Some names are sublime, and some are ridiculous. Some fit. Some act more like a ball and chain.

I have 3 children. We approached the task of naming with joy and seriousness. All carry either a first or middle name that has been passed down through generations in either my own or my former wife’s family.

All three children were born in widely divergent places, and we purposely chose not to incorporate any names from local cultures. This was both a sign of respect for the local culture and of reality that we did not know where the new baby would spend most of its life as an adult.