in a name

How long did it take you to name your child? It took Daniel and I seven days to give Ché his name. We expected a dark little child and I birthed a blonde, blue-eyed, elfin little creature. You can read more about it here.

But sometimes, Daniel still questions whether we got it right. He's a virgo, and a perfectionist, and he considers meanings and namesakes very important matters. When I was pregnant we discussed the concept of 'growth' and 'possibility' in a name. From a little thing, a big thing grows. Seeds, trees, life. All those things. I remember mentioning to Daniel that it's not as if our child is going to introduce himself and then mention a 'sub-heading' that we gave him on his birth certificate. Names don't work like that.

But we agreed that we wanted a name that sounded beautiful, that felt right, that had a meaning that resonated with us. We wanted our child to have a name that we were proud of.

We still talked about tree names and acorns, oaks and seeds but, as you know, we chose Ché. Ché Ché as so many people call him.

On Saturday afternoon while our little one was sleeping, Daniel and I were lying on the bed reading. I was flicking through The Possibility of Everything. The writer, Hope Eldeman, takes her family on holiday to the Central American country of Belize. She talks a lot about the Mayan Indians of that area - mostly their spirituality that still resonates throughout the land. She discusses the plant life of the area, and the Mayan names for each species.

And then she writes Yex che ... the first tree.

In the ancient language of the Mayan Indians, Che means tree.

After two years, such wonderful validation. We gave him that most beautiful 'tree' name.

I still can't believe it.