The Occasional Solipsist

It's funny.

So many people have been complimentary about Trinity's name, how pretty it is, how unique, etc.

But then there's the people that feel compelled to comment on their interpretation of her name, and what a personal problem it is for them.

What brought this whole thing to a boil was a comment from a neighbour of mine while I was walking my dog this afternoon.

I'm walking Maya along the street and one of those neighbours who I know nothing about except for the fact that she has a dog and a boyfriend who never says hi back stops me while sitting on her porch.

Up to this point in our neighbourly relationship the entire content of every conversation we've ever had has been 'Hi how are you?', 'Great, How are you?'

You know what I mean.

So today, probably due to the absence of my wife who heretofore has never missed a walk, this neighbour asks if we've had the baby. I say yes, she says congratulations. She asks if its a girl or a boy. I tell her she's a girl. She says 'How nice, what's her name?' and I say 'Trinity'.

Then there's a long pause, followed by a 'Why that name?', and in the snide way she asks, I already know she has an opinion, and I have a real good guess at what that opinion is.

So I tell her the short version; that we loved the name from The Matrix movies, and that we thought it was pretty and unique.

And then this person who I don't know says 'You must be pretty religious then', as if she believes that by the end of the conversation I will be changing the baby's name if I tell her we aren't. To which I reply that we are both in fact atheists, and that her name does not refer to the big three from Christian religion.

By this time I'm getting annoyed. I was after all just out for a walk, not a lecture from some 'thumper.

So then she says 'You know that everyone will think you are very religious with a name like that' in a tsk tsk sort of voice. Now all I want to do is punch her out.

So I smile at her and say 'Only people like you' and continue my walk.

Now I don't really feel the need to justify our decision, but because of our unique choice, people like the aforementioned twit will occasionally offer an uninvited commentary. So what follows is for them, for once and for all time:

We wanted, in naming our daughter, to find a name that 1) had some significant meaning, 2) be pretty enough for a little girl and still be suitable for a woman, 3) be unique enough to set her apart from all of the usual suspects out there, and 4) have a short form that we didn't hate.

Tall order.

After a lot of thinking, and scrutinizing movie and tv credits, novels, babynaming books, and the internet, we decided upon Trinity.

First, the significant meaning. Yes, we first heard the name in The Matrix, and yes, I love those movies. So there's that. But we only chose the name after we uncovered its true historic meaning.

I say true meaning first, because contrary to the wide misconception, the Christian religion did not create the word to refer to the three principals in their dogma. The word Trinity is actually from ancient latin, derived from trinitas, for triad, or group of three. We felt the significance of this name in the context of her being the third member of our family was very powerful. That other, more mainstream interpretation of the name Trinity, the one from Christian doctrine, began seeing use much later when they adopted the entire Roman language.

As for our other criteria, we feel the name Trinity is very cute for a little girl, and is at the same time a strong woman's name. It is definitely unique, and I doubt there'll be too many other Trinity's in her class at school. As opposed to the 12 hands that will shoot up when the name Madison is called out. And we call her Trin sometimes, so that's as good a nickname as any.

So here's the last words on my daughter's name. If you like it, great. So do we. If you don't, that's fine too.

If however, you feel the need to tell me your views on our naming choice and why you think its inappropriate because of our absence of religious belief, I'm going to go ahead and invite you to shove your opinions all the way up your ass in the hopes that you can then keep them to yourself. Seriously.

Name your own kids whatever the hell you want and leave mine alone.

Labels: family, trinity