It was a year ago today that our child was named. This is strange since she was already a month old but was actually quite early considering. In Finland there is a strange tradition that the name isn't told until the christening and even though our child wasn't christened, my wife wanted to keep the tradition. So, up until this point, she was called by a nickname in public 'Lyyli' (Loo-li).
I find all of the traditions like this quite silly but since I am not the one that had to give birth, I didn't complain too much. It was strange to tell family and friends in Australia however that we are using a fake name and they weren't allowed to know the real name. They thought it strange too.
Her name wasn't even registered at the hospital when she was born, the working name was. We had to go to the magistrates office to apply for the name and it would need to be accepted by them. Finland has name days where every date has a couple of names attached to it and they restrict some names although it is rare and foreigners have more freedom in the naming rights for obvious reasons. I don't know why but it seems important to some people to recognise their name day like a birthday, two sets of presents I assume to be the reason.
For the naming party however, there is usually coffee and cake and a priest who blesses the baby and attaches the godparents in some type of ceremony. We of course had none of that but did name one on either side as 'godparents' for our daughter, our own nieces. They are both the same age and quite different personalities so we figure they will be able to provide different views of life in the coming years.
For the party, we organized and prepared nearly everything ourselves and I even made and learned to decorate the cake with fondant. A couple friends made extra cakes and pies for us as there was no way we could do them all. There were about 40 guests who joined us to celebrate the day as we invited a little wider than normal, even though usually there are only the closest family and the godparents present.
We figured that a year earlier we had eloped and hadn't invited anyone so we should probably give the people we 'would' have invited some cake. We were really lucky as the weather was nice and warm enough to be outside which is very unlikely this time of year as it is normally cold and wet. This year it is grey and miserable and in line with the stereotypical autumn.
It was funny also as my wife was still recovering and unable to really walk much so I went and bought her dresses that she could choose from and the clothes for our little one. This was the most enjoyable part of the organisation for me as I like shopping.
In the end however, all of the planning and work for these kinds of things really doesn't mean much as the events themselves are largely unimportant. Of course, this is my view and many hold the memories of such things dearly for years to come. I am more the spontaneous enjoyment rather than the 'party because of tradition' type of person but, when in Rome as they say.
We had a little trouble working out what we would name her as many parents do. We wanted something that works in Finnish and English but there aren't many options. My wife wanted Olivia but I vetoed it as nearly every mixed nationality girl here is called Olivia these days.
So on this day, our daughter officially became 'Ava'
Not that I use her name much anyway as I have a hundred nicknames I use instead. Generally, when I call her by name, she is in trouble. I guess that is a tradition I stick too :)
Taraz
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