the name post
Posted: August 29, 2007 Filed under: Uncategorized 19 Comments »His first name does indeed come from Samuel Beckett. Somewhere between philosophy (Wes) and literature (me) comes "Waiting for Godot," which is probably my favorite piece of theatre. We like the absurdist existentialist connotations. My family keeps talking about baseball, so apparently this name also crosses over into non-intellectual pursuits, as well. We did not know this, but it seems to make them happy so oh well. When we chose this name, the 2006 Social Security list wasn’t out yet. You can imagine Wes’ horror at finding this name on the list for the first time ever. By then he was well and truly named, though.
This is the portrait of Samuel Beckett in the National Portrait Gallery in London. It is another reason I fell in love with the playwright and the name. I have had a postcard print of this above my desk since college. I find it truly inspirational in a charmingly absurd way.
His middle name – Ace – is after a cat. Yes.
Ace was one of my mother’s many cats. When she died, Ace attached himself to Melissa in a rather mystical and deep way and he eventually went to live with her.
Wes and I have very few beliefs in common when it comes to anything spirtual. Wes has almost no spiritual beliefs, period. But we both think there is something going on with cats and babies.
One of my mom’s cats, Rasmussen, died when she was in labor with me.
Wes’ cat Rascal died when Wes was pregnant with GMB.
When Melissa was pregnant with K and I was pregnant with the penguin, both of Melissa’s cats died. One had been her husband’s and one was Ace. I began to think that Ace had been the cat for my baby. I continued to think that even after the penguin’s demise and as I got pregnant with Beck. One cat per baby. A protector of sorts. A companion spirit.
And that, I guarantee you, is the closest to new agey gobbledegook that you will ever hear me get.
I had always planned to use my mother’s name as a middle name for a daughter. When I got a son instead, I had to figure out the best way to honor her. As crazy as it sounds, using the name of one of her pets is perfect. She was as crazy for animals as Wes is.
I think he got his red/auburn/strawberry blond/whatever-you-want-to-call-it hair from the cat.
We think his name sounds like an absurdist existentialist superhero. What could be better?
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THINGS WE TRY TO MAKE HIM SLEEP UPDATE
Heating the basket – nope
$40 Secure Sleeper thing purchased in a fit of optimism yesterday – nope (but we will try again)
Carseat – bought us nearly 4 hours last night but when we tried to put him back after feeding, no go. May be a sometime solution.
Sidelying nursing – attempted again this morning and got me an extra hour, but still a little uncomfortable
Swing – sometimes signals a mellow good time to him but not sleep
Vibrate – hates it at the moment (but we know that can change)
Bri, I don’t know if you remembered this, but Ace died on 8/16/06. So Beckett was almost born on the anniversary – maybe that’s stretching things but it kind of gave me chills.
See you SOON!
I love hearing the origin of names- especially Special names.
The idea that Ace is Beckett’s protector is kind of beautiful. Thank you for sharing this.
xoxoxo
how about the fact that our daughter’s middle name is your dog who I love and your son’s middle name is our former dog who has now been adopted by our wonderful (and better pet owners) friends?
GL – I knew each of thos facts separately but hadn’t put it together like that – wow!
Lissa – can’t wait to see you! That really is amazingly strange about the date.
I think it’s a wonderful name. And the story behind it makes it even better!
I hope you get him some sleep soon. I wish I had advice.
Great name story!
4 hours – ROCKSTAR!
Lots of luck on the continued sleep seeking situation. If Beckett, perchance, was up around oh, 1am-ish last night? He was sending signals to Malka. Because girlfriend, who now sleeps through the night (I PROMISE YOU WILL GET THERE…), was up like a wild woman banshee for about an hour.
OY.
Probably in sympathy with Beckett….
Ok, huge bit of assvice that I was tempted to give yesterday and didn’t. If you want to know the details (I’ll even draw a diagram and scan it) of the “Hungarian Straightjacket Swaddle” (not not NOT its real name), email me.
Our daughter could NOT be contained in conventional swaddles. She wasn’t quite as fast as Ace was… I don’t think she escaped until she was three-ish hours old. We learned this mean-looking-but-super-kid-comforting technique at a moms group, and love to pass it along.
Like I said, email me. And good luck with the sleep. It will come!
Scout Charlotte applauds the logic behind Beckett Ace. She is all for literature inspired names, even if hers are fictional characters not authors or playwrights.
The baseball thing will pass: Josh Beckett may be the ace of the/my Boston Red Sox but when you google “Beckett Ace” you get Unwellness then some Beckett underwater pond pump sold at Ace Hardware. Baseball pitchers are way down the search list.
I know we talked eons ago about how our boy middle name for Quinn was going to be Beckett. Ours is also from a Samuel Beckett, but not the same one. Ours (ok mine, b/c Megan had nothing to do with it) was from Quantum Leap. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Samuel_Beckett I love me some Scott Bakula.
oooh. i love love love the cat story. i totally believe it 100%. i love hearing you and wes being all wooey even more.
The middle name is very cool. Sorry Beckett made “the list.” I’ve heard it twice around here, but I still don’t think it will be huge anytime soon. These things take time.
4 hours of sleep is pretty good for a newborn (not for you, I know). I hope it keeps getting better. Love you.
I loved hearing where your little one’s name stems from. I can’t imagine naming my child Michael or David just because, you know? There has to be meaning. This being said by someone who was named after two actresses and gay icons. I’ve always thought my naming story was kinda corny though. Though I think it probably predetermined my sexuality, so that was OK.
i LOVE his name story!!!
Great name story.
As for the sleeping — this too shall pass. I didn’t get a full night’s sleep with the twins until they were 14 months old. For my son, we used the car seat – next to the dryer with the dryer running on cool cycle. Since he slept in the car it was the only thing I could think of. I think a combination of the vibration and the white noise worked well.
He also would nurse next to me lying down all night long. Then my daughter became the non-sleeper and her solution was co-sleeping.
It gets better. You’re doing a great job!
Waiting for Godot is fantastic and “Beckett” is perfect. Congrats again!
Speaking of names, I have this baby book printed in the UK, from like 1988, with all these great names, and it has YOUR name right in it (your full name) which I have never seen in a baby name book before, certainly. Thought that was interesting.
*Delurking* I found your blog around the first of August. I was all caught up on it and so excited to see the word of the birth and then I lost you. I forgot to bookmark your site! I just found you again today! BIG congrats! Beckett is beautiful! Love the name story.