Lily Grace

We have a new member of our family now. She arrived the other day and was given the gift of a name on arrival: Lily Grace. She'll go far with a name like that! Some names just have a ring to them - a kind of flow. They sound like music.

What's in a name? What indeed? A name can make all the difference. Ask the marketing companies. There's a fortune in the right name for the right product.

Lily Grace is a product, of course. In the strictest sense of the word, she was produced by her clever parents, with a little help from the cosmic plan that underwrites all such happenings. One day her name may come in handy from a commercial, career enhancement point of view, but not just yet! Right now she's just Lily Grace - that sweet bundle of joy in a pink babygrow who delights the rest of her family with her charms. She has no idea what her fortune may turn out to be and whether her name will help.

A friend recently sent a joke via the internet about 'Being Poor'. The gist of it was the shame experienced by a young girl during her first ever school lesson on that age-old mystery: where do babies come from? Mortified, she explained to her parents her embarrassment when her friends voiced their various expert theories on the subject, from storks to gooseberry bushes to supermarkets and she was forced to admit that her own parents had been so poor they had to make her themselves!!! The truth will out! But the truth is we're all products and we all need the right name.

In many cultures names have a meaning. We researched our own daughter's name extensively. Catherine Joy: pure + joy = pure joy! Not a bad start in life. Does the name shape the baby or the baby shape the name? An interesting question. Names such as Faith or Hope, Charity or Verity give a child a lot to live up to but also mark the level of trust invested in them by their hopeful parents. It's good to have positive expectations.

So here's to you, Lily Grace! May you be blessed with the beauty and sweet temperament your family have invested in you. We look forward to meeting you.