When I was pregnant with my first baby, I had a dream about her. I dreamt that she was a boy, and her name was Perrence LeSaif.
Of course, at the time of the dream, I already knew she was a girl, and we already had her name chosen. Given the sorts of things I dream about, I dismissed this as nothing more than an amusing subconscious quirk to laugh at with my husband.
But I have been realizing, to my dismay, just how many people would really name their baby Perrence LeSaif if they had a dream like mine. There are parents who would credit a dream with some spiritual naming significance, rather than just chalk it up to the burritos they had for dinner the night before.
I am not that parent. I think Perrence LeSaif is a horrible name for boy or girl, and my children will not be burdened with it. But I have been hoping that my dreams will introduce other, similarly horrible names for me to laugh at, and so far, they haven’t. My subconscious has not suggested any names for any of my babies since my first pregnancy.
I think it’s in a huff that I didn’t take the last suggestion.
What about you? Would you name your child a name you heard in a dream?
I don’t really know as those days are long past. I think much would depend upon what the name was that I dreamed, or is that a cop out?
Cheers
I had a dream that our baby was born and that it was a boy, but that the name we were leaning towards just didn’t fit somehow.
That’s less creative than a dream that supplies me with amusing if horrible names, I suppose, but when I mentioned it to my husband he agreed that he’d been having his doubts and…back to the drawing board we went.
I wouldn’t name my baby based on a dream, but I will admit to kinda liking the name Perrence. I like the strange names some people get irked about though, having grown up with one myself.
Depends how good the name was. If it suggested Glucka Blubbs, I’d be worried my uncle was whispering beside my bed in the night (he suggested that name to me when I was small, and one of my poor baby dolls acquired the name as a result).
Perrence is…a bit odd. But not the worst that could have come up.
I think a lot of people put more stock in dreams than they should. There’s a person on the radio in my area called “The Dream Doctor” who interprets people’s dreams. And they listen to him, a perfect stranger, rather than use their own brain or ask a trusted friend for advice. Or in my case, check scripture.
While pregnant with my first, I dreamt that she was born and then immediately turned into a lump of coal that was then thrown into a coal stove by an unassuming relative. (Because who would assume that a lump of coal was someone’s baby?)
Plus, what was I doing giving birth in such close proximity to a coal stove?
The moral of the story? I don’t get much use out of anything I dream.
PS: My husband, who delivers babies, has seen some “great” name choices over the years, and not one of them came to his patients in dreams. Including “QueenAnne” and “Chlamydia” . . . .
I saw on Oprah (cringing as I write that) that Billy Rae Cyrus named his daughter (Miley Cyrus to us all) Destiny Hope Cyrus because he dreamed that she was destined to bring hope to the world. I had trouble not gagging when he said that, and I think the name Destiny Hope sounds like someone that doesn’t wear a lot of clothing. I know, I know, now I am cringing at my meanness.
At the time I thought as you wrote…”Billy Ray, sometimes it’s better to just let your dream be a dream.” Maybe he eventually thought so too since she goes by Miley now.
I don’t think I’d name my baby after a dream…I dreamed BBJ was supposed to be Emily….and my mother is still mad I didn’t use that name.
However, when I was in a quandary in high school, I prayed and had a dream where an old Indian (like, from India) grandmother came and gave me some advice. Her name was Maha Muthi (Mahamuti?). Maybe I’ll name my kid that!
When I was a little girl I dreamed that my favorite doll’s middle name was supposed to be Quariau Mretta. In my dream I saw it written on a piece of paper and knew what I was supposed to do, so I woke up and announced that my doll had a middle name now. More than 30 years later I can still see that piece of paper in my mind’s eye.
Perhaps it’s lucky for my children that I never dreamed any names for them.
I had a friend who thought that the rule was First Name: Bible name, Second Name: Family Name. So, she was going to do that. Then she had a dream that the girl (she was having twins) would be Hannah Claire, and that was what they named her. Claire had no significance, but she felt she had no choice. It came in a dream, after all…
At least it was a pretty name.
p.s.
The above comments were highly amusing… What vivid dreams y’all are having up there!
When my husband and I were engaged, he had a dream we had a daughter named Gianna Colleen. We contemplated using it for our eldest daughter, but couldn’t bring ourselves to do it.
We took the naming of our daughter very seriously. We considered name meanings and heritage and biblical associations. It was a whole big thing for my husband to pick just the right name.
After it was all settled and we knew her name, I dreamed that she was born, and he filled out the birth certificate, not with the biblical name he had chosen, but “almondine joy”. In the dream, when I asked him why, he answered “because sometimes you feel like a nut.”
I would if I liked the name.
I once had a dream about a baby girl named Ruby. I would use the name someday but my husband thinks it’s too funny.
I never seem to dream about anything as basic as a baby name, in fact my dreams scare me a little bit, I am usually chasing the terrorists and don’t have a lot of time for names.
That being said, even if I did dream a name, the odds are good that DH wouldn’t like it.
Well I dreamed I was having a girl …. so I’m pretty sure Alex is happy he isn’t Katelyn
Only if it was a good name. And I wish I had vivid pregnancy dreams; I just didn’t.
Perrence? Oh dear.
I suspect I wouldn’t go with a name that was created in a hormone-induced dream in an exhausted brain…
You could always do what I did — just use the name for the child’s alias on your blog.
(For the record: My new daughter’s name is not Sparkles Diamond.)
Oh, and I’m sorry your subconscious is mad at you. Maybe you could send it a Starbucks gift card and plead for its forgiveness? Because Perrence LeSaif is truly horrible. It must know this, on some level.
(Or is this your subconscious way of telling us that your subconscious needs to start thinking of baby names again?!?)
Kelly, for one brief, shiny moment I wondered if you had really named your girl Sparkles Diamond, but then I came to my senses.
Sean was a week old before we settled on his name. I was praying that I’d get a name – in a dream, in the mail, in the phone book. It was agony knowing that a hospital person would be coming to my room that day with a clipboard wanting a name for the kid already! However, had that name come to me as Perrence or LaSaif. Then no, we’d still be waiting.
One of my dear – and very sensible friends – had a dream while she was pregnant that her baby – a curly haired little boy – was floating past her in a white boat and holding up a sign with a name on it. She woke up and realized that it WAS in fact, the name that she did want to name her kid. She thinks that her brain took matters in hand and named her baby for her while she was sleeping.
And I had a dream that a little red haired girl was frantically shaking me while I was sleeping and whispering her name into my ear. Sadly, it was a STUPID name and I’ve yet to have a red haired child.
I used to believe in dreams a lot–actually I still do, but when I was pregnant with my son I dreamt I had a girl. When I woke up I said to my husband “I just dreamt that it is a girl, but my dream is wrong, I am sure it is a boy.” When he was born and the nurse said “it’s a boy!” I said “Yeah, I know”
But now I have trust issues with myself–who to believe, my subconscious self or my waking self?
I was a social worker and can I just say that in the world of bad names, Perrence LeSaif is not the worst of the bunch by any means, oh the stories I could tell…
All three of my boys would probably be named Grace if I listened to my dreams. Thank goodness I don’t! HA!
I had a name dream when I was pregnant with my first. In my dream her name was Raven Cassiope. It was such an evidence in this dream. This was to be her name. Then I woke up…I told my husband about it, even tried to get him to agree to Cassiope for awhile before we agreed on another, much more neutral name that can be pronounced by all the members of our spread out family.
My parents did name me after a dream that my dad had. In my dream, I was Sarah, though, so I don’t object. Sarah’s about as normal as it gets.
“Perrence LeSaif” sounds likes a chauncey little French Harry Potter character. Or an excellent name for a cat.
I would never have named my children after something that came to me in a dream, because their names would both be “Colin Firth.”
[...] to die. So, mean kids that we were, the kid that we didn’t like very much (we’ll call him “Perrence”) was always guy [...]
I think not.
Perrence. You have a great dream life.