Family Conflict - Firefly edition

POSTED BY: bgetter
UPDATED: Saturday, August 9, 2008 12:27
VIEWED: 9900
PAGE 1 of 3

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE

BGETTER

Saturday, December 29, 2007 4:08 PM

My wife and I have been contemplating having a baby for over a year now, and are finally pregnant. A name we have really loved for a long time now, if it is a girl, is Inara. It is a beautiful name, and will only be slightly weird since we are your standard-fare Southern white folk. Oh, and there is that little thing about naming your daughter after a companion. But too bad!

Unfortunately, my outspoken mother-in-law has gone crrraaazzzzyy about the name. She can't pronounce it and no one else will be able to (so she says). And the whole companion thing is not lost on her....

My questions: Is Inara too odd a name for John and Jane doe family? Also....

Is it blasphemy to change the spelling to Anara?

Just curious what everyone thinks! I am really excited about naming here Inara/Anara.

BILLYBIGBALLS

Saturday, December 29, 2007 4:34 PM

Haha what a dilemma

Dont listen to the Mother-in-law, they are all the same. They always think they know better and want to have influence over you.

Inara is a really cool name, one your daughter( you did say you were having a daughter, if its a son, thats just wrong) will love when she is older. Its maybe good when your a kid to have matching names with other kids, but as you get older its good to be different and having a cool name is awesome.

Name a child something different and cool, with meaning...they will thank you for it

MAL4PREZ

Saturday, December 29, 2007 4:40 PM

First - congratulations!

I think that in the end it's your baby - name her as you please. The rest of the family will get used to whichever name you pick, as long as you and your daughter are comfortable with it. As to spelling... I like either one. Anara has the plus that it's unique and doesn't obviously tie to a sci-fi show, which may be something your daughter will worry over someday. She'll have the option of going with Ann if she wants something more "normal." Some kids stress over that. Silly kids.

In case you don't know, here's some trivia I came across about the name when writing my fic:

Inara is Arabic for: ‘Ray of light, Heaven sent.’

She's also a rather wacky goddess. From http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/middle-eastern-mythology.php?deity=
INARA

INARA: Protector Goddess of all Wild Animals. Except dragons, which she has a tendency to obliterate.

In particular, she clobbered the dragon ILLUYANKAS, who with his own family was causing much aggravation. INARA, with the aid of her human lover Hupasiyas, laid on a dragon's feast. There was booze by the barrel-load and calories by the cartload.

The dragons came early, ate everything in sight and drank themselves into a stupor. Then Hupasiyas roped them down and they were dispatched.

With the reward money, INARA built Hupasiyas a heavenly penthouse. But she warned him he must never look out of the window. Of course he just couldn't resist and saw his wife and children all alone and pining. So INARA, who had a very hard Hittite heart, just had to eliminate him and put the penthouse on the market.

After consultation with HANNAHANNA, she found herself another lover and also some land to make love to him on. Which sounds like the cue for a happy ending. Only she went missing and not even HANNAHANNA's magic bee probe could find her again.

-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

IREMIST

Saturday, December 29, 2007 6:24 PM

Bgetter, I think Anara is a lovely name.

I think your mo-in-law is probably just miffed you are not naming it after her.

I think either pronunciation Ah-nara or the much more redneck A(long A)nara are both beautiful and I congratulate you and the missus both on the pregnancy, and on having the courage and originality to find a to find a slighlty different name than the huddled masses produce.

I myself am on the receiving end of one of the most popular names of my decade and have always despised it as there were five in my class with the same name and every gorram store I go into there is always someone with my name called on the intercom....

As for naming her after a companion, welll...

My daughter's name is Maven and wikipedia says the origin is Yiddish but we actually named her after Ireland's famed Warrior Queen Maeve
(with alterations for the redneck's incapable of dealing with Gaelic's extra vowels, and also our last name is all Irish and cofusing -poor child)
who was named after the slightly wacky Celtic goddess of Intoxication!!! (gotta love the Irish)
Also, My great grannies name was Mabel and Maven is the Anglicanized version, but we didn't know that at the time. Also the current meaning of the name is "an person of a particular strength or knowledge" which I thought was special. Also I have naver met ANYBODY with the same name and my family loved the name.

Your mo-in-law will get over it within a month or two of seeing the baby, believe me.....

Anyway, Anara is a strong name and I hope you have a strong baby.

Hope that I have helped.....

BGETTER

Saturday, December 29, 2007 7:42 PM

Thanks for the replies guys/gals! You confirm what I have been thinking: Do what I want to do, let them get used to it! Hehehe. I will give updates as the baby sex is determined, and if a girl, I will throw up some pics of little Inara/Anara.

GRIZWALD

Saturday, December 29, 2007 8:05 PM

You could also give her a really "normal" middle name so at some point she can use that if she hates her first name. I did that: We gave our children weird first names and boring middle names.

"Nobody can pronounce it," eh!? That's funny. I have a niece named Moira, pronounced Moy-ra of course. My mother-in-law has always hated the name and calls the baby "More-uh" and never bothers to try to do any better. She says it is an unpronounceable name. Well, not to NORMAL people, it isn't...

___________________________________________________
High Priestess of Pork and Ag-Related Activities of the MYTHICAL LAND OF IOWA

Click on my profile for my Annoyingly Long List of Firefly Links.

BILLYBIGBALLS

Saturday, December 29, 2007 9:34 PM

Name the baby Jayne if its a boy

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Monday, December 31, 2007 5:54 AM

Inara Serra may be derived from a different culture than America-that-was, although intergrated in the vuture verse. Today it may be arabic or Latino, Central American, or South American. You may check what it's roots are in other cultures. Guillermo becomes William in English, and Jorge (Whore-hey) becomes George, I think.

My God-mother was somewhat irritated that her grandson was named Ivan. Until I pointed out that Ivan was merely a version of John (also like Juan, Sean, Johann, and others I forget now but remembered then), which is a biblical name. She was much more accepting then.
If telling her it's a God's name, try that.

Do what you want. She can have more than one middle name, also - signifying royalty.

SAHARA

Thursday, January 3, 2008 8:20 PM

CONGRATULATIONS!

Your MIL had her chance naming kids. It's your turn. Go for it. They'll get used to whatever you name the baby eventually and they won't love her any less.
For that very reason most of the people in my family are mum on the name until after the baby's born and named.

Have you thought of a boy's name?

Sahara
Blackbird fly into the light of the dark, black night.

BROWNCOAT1

Friday, January 4, 2008 12:28 PM

Congratulations to you and your wife!

I think that Inara is a beautiful name. It is the name of a fictional character, albeit a beautiful, intelligent, and brave woman. Personally I am not seeing your mother-in-law's issue, but than again I don't get along with my mother-in-law. *shrugs*

In the end it is a decision for you and your wife to make, not your mother-in-law or anyone else. If Inara makes you happy than I say go with it. Your M-I-L will get over it eventually and when she sees that little baby her heart will melt anyway, regardless of what she thinks of the name.

__________________________________________
Holding the line since December '02!

Richmond, VA & surrounding area Firefly Fans:

http://www.richmondbrowncoats.org

Color Officer / X.O. Echo Company

http://76thbattalion.homestead.com/index.html

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE