She needs a name. Aida and the biological mother are going to register her for a birth certificate this week, and she needs a name.
On our trips back and forth to Dubai for our homestudy meetings in August, September & October, I would bug Ahmed with ideas for names, lists of boys' names, girls' names, names which work both as Muslim and English names, etc, etc.
Ahmed's least favourite topics of conversation are probably: clothes shopping, sport, politics and names. One of our car trips produced the following list:
Me: Hana, Helena, Isabella, Sophia, Thea, Emilia, Leah, Samuel, Gabriel, Luca, Isaac, Joel, Daniel
Ahmed: Wolverine, Aldar (a construction company in Dubai), Copernicus, Stoppit (saves having to give the instruction), Ning Nong, Buttmunch, Persephone, Bobba, Hyundai, Camry, Fortuna (the last three inspired by passing cars - surprisingly for the UAE, not Porsche, Lexus and Landcruiser)
So, even at this crunch time, Ahmed's still telling me to go ahead and choose a name. Nope, this has to be something that comes from both of us.
We both like Maya. We both truly like Maya, in the sense that it's not just me liking it and Ahmed not actively disliking it. Maya works in all our cultures - NZ, Canada, Muslim, UAE, Spanish-speaking. Before we confirm, I just want to ask my Mexican student at the British Council what she thinks. I'd like the Mexican seal of approval. My worry is that with the Maya culture in Mexico, it might be a bit weird. A bit like naming a baby Maori in NZ.
Carmen doesn't seem to like the name Maya, and says, yes, it might be weird in Mexico. So, just like that, Maya is no longer an option in my mind. I'm mourning the loss of that name, and last night at 3am, I woke Ahmed up. Tijuana is exactly 12 hours behind Abu Dhabi, and our lawyer is awake and emailing while we're asleep. So I'm not sleeping these days, as I have to get up and check every hour or so, just to make sure she hasn't sent the email I keep expecting: Whoops, sorry, there's no baby, it's a practical joke.
We pick Hana. It's the second favourite name on our list. It's a name we both like. Well, I chose it, and Ahmed doesn't dislike it. It's a Muslim name, and works in English, Japanese, pretty much any language I can think of.
We email Aida with her name: Hana Bulbulia Smart. Poor child with such a mouthful! I also mention that we wanted to call her Maya, but felt it might be a strange name in Mexico.
We also email all our family to tell them about baby Hana.
Aida emails back saying that Maya is a beautiful name, she knows other Mexicans called Maya. I look at the photos she sent us, and say to the baby: Hello Hana. Hello Maya. Maya feels right.
So just like that, we're back with Maya and that's her name!
On our trips back and forth to Dubai for our homestudy meetings in August, September & October, I would bug Ahmed with ideas for names, lists of boys' names, girls' names, names which work both as Muslim and English names, etc, etc.
Ahmed's least favourite topics of conversation are probably: clothes shopping, sport, politics and names. One of our car trips produced the following list:
Me: Hana, Helena, Isabella, Sophia, Thea, Emilia, Leah, Samuel, Gabriel, Luca, Isaac, Joel, Daniel
Ahmed: Wolverine, Aldar (a construction company in Dubai), Copernicus, Stoppit (saves having to give the instruction), Ning Nong, Buttmunch, Persephone, Bobba, Hyundai, Camry, Fortuna (the last three inspired by passing cars - surprisingly for the UAE, not Porsche, Lexus and Landcruiser)
So, even at this crunch time, Ahmed's still telling me to go ahead and choose a name. Nope, this has to be something that comes from both of us.
We both like Maya. We both truly like Maya, in the sense that it's not just me liking it and Ahmed not actively disliking it. Maya works in all our cultures - NZ, Canada, Muslim, UAE, Spanish-speaking. Before we confirm, I just want to ask my Mexican student at the British Council what she thinks. I'd like the Mexican seal of approval. My worry is that with the Maya culture in Mexico, it might be a bit weird. A bit like naming a baby Maori in NZ.
Carmen doesn't seem to like the name Maya, and says, yes, it might be weird in Mexico. So, just like that, Maya is no longer an option in my mind. I'm mourning the loss of that name, and last night at 3am, I woke Ahmed up. Tijuana is exactly 12 hours behind Abu Dhabi, and our lawyer is awake and emailing while we're asleep. So I'm not sleeping these days, as I have to get up and check every hour or so, just to make sure she hasn't sent the email I keep expecting: Whoops, sorry, there's no baby, it's a practical joke.
We pick Hana. It's the second favourite name on our list. It's a name we both like. Well, I chose it, and Ahmed doesn't dislike it. It's a Muslim name, and works in English, Japanese, pretty much any language I can think of.
We email Aida with her name: Hana Bulbulia Smart. Poor child with such a mouthful! I also mention that we wanted to call her Maya, but felt it might be a strange name in Mexico.
We also email all our family to tell them about baby Hana.
Aida emails back saying that Maya is a beautiful name, she knows other Mexicans called Maya. I look at the photos she sent us, and say to the baby: Hello Hana. Hello Maya. Maya feels right.
So just like that, we're back with Maya and that's her name!
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