Dear Sarah,

My dear friend Shawna told me about your site so I just had to check it out. Good stuff. But here’s my problem: I’m currently pregnant with my second child and my husband Mike and I are having a devil of a time coming up with a good name. Our first-born child we named Natasha Kasunic – which is a fine name, and I’m glad we picked it. However, once all the paper work was done, some loving friend pointed out that the name Natasha spelt backward was Ah, Satan. Great. Well, we thought about what to name this one (it’s a boy, BTW), and we thought we could continue the devil naming and call him Damien. We have also considered James T. Kasunic. Some other not-so-close friends thought that Frank Ulysses Charles Kasunic would be good. I don’t like what the initials spell. *sigh* So, I was wondering if you had any good ideas for naming the wee tot.

Thanks in advance,
Geekmom

Dear Geekmom,

“Boris” is the first boy’s name that springs into my head.Geddit?Boris?Natasha?Okay, never mind.Boris is a bit much for a young’un anyway.

I like the name James a great deal – it’s a name that goes way back on both sides of my family, in fact – and I see where you want to go with the “T” part, but maybe you ought to go with a nice safe “Thomas” or “Theodore” instead of “Tiberius” for the middle name.I like Damien (or Damian) too.”Damien Kasunic” has a nice ring.

I don’t know what names you’ve selected or rejected already, but I kind of like the idea of weaving in names from the family’s past, like using your mother’s maiden name (maybe not so much if it’s Gluck or something, but you get the idea), or your grandfather’s middle name.For example, I don’t know that I’ll ever have kids, but if I had a son, I’d probably name him “Gardner.”That’s an ancestor of mine’s maiden name, which has gotten handed down as a middle name on my father’s side.My own middle name is my grandfather’s middle name.Or you could think of names that sound good with Natasha: Alexander?Peter?Nicholas (or Nicolas)?Gregory?

And then you have names that would go well with “Kasunic.”I don’t know whether you pronounce it “Kah-soo-nick” or “Kah-soo-nitch,” but if it’s the former, you might want to avoid names with “k” sounds in them – “Cameron Kasunic,” say, or “Carl Kasunic.”If it’s the latter, a nice chewy name like “Charles Kasunic” is cool.

Or you could counter the whole “Ah, Satan” thing with a Biblical name – David, Joshua, Jacob, Eli, Joseph, Aaron, that sort of thing – or by calling him Angelo.”Angelo Kasunic” has a certain flair, I think.

Okay, I could go on all day, so I’ll stop here, but regardless of what you name him, congratulations and best of luck to you and your family.

[12/1/00]

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