Naming Zachary

June 05, 2010

We already decided to name our baby Widad Arjuna since we found out that we are having a son. I am responsible for the Arjuna part, because I always wanted classic malay names for my children. So I already have Arjuna, Andika and Satria for boys (means warrior) and Cinta, Kasih, Sayang for girls (mean love, affection, fondness). We have been calling the baby Widad through out the pregnancy until the very last minute, when an arab doctor who did the last ultrasound said that we cannot name him Widad. Apparently Widad is for girls.

We were a bit frustrated, as we really like the name and its meaning (ambition / emotion) plus Arjuna (white / silvery) really sound like a good name. But we also cannot risk other kinds making fun of him for having a girl's name. So we have to look up the baby names guide books again, but still cannot reach the agreement between us until a day before our baby was born (the day Hani was admitted to the hospital).

So what we did was really funny, we vote. We both nominated 3 names and place them in a jar. It supposed to be a straight forward process where each of us have to pick a name from the jar, then Hani will have the honour as the mother to pick one of the two names from the jar in the final round of voting. Like all elections and voting process, they are bound to be criticised and contested. so we have to do it again and again in an elaborate process until finally Zachary Andika was picked (even with Hani's little reservation). Even with Zachary, we cannot confirm on the spelling until 2 days after the baby was born, the time when we have to submit the birth registration. We gone from Zakhery, Zakri, Zakry, before we settled with Zachary.