Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A Beautiful Name

I just realized the other day that my current crush has a beautiful name in the sense that it's wonderful to pronounce. Her first name and last name has a certain alliteration thanks to hard consonants. Unfortunately, in this tug of war between what's private and public, the former wins out.

What interests me about names is that they're part of Philippine society. Even with naming conventions, there's a clear divide. For example, most Filipinos have names derived from Spanish, Maria Theresa being one of the more common female names. So far, I haven't met any Filipino-Chinese whose first name is derived from Spanish (although I have met some Maria Theresa's). It's always Western: John instead of Juan, Peter instead of Pedro. I'm sure there are exceptions but majority of the Filipino-Chinese will take their names from Western sources.

And then there's the occasional weird but beautiful name. My first crush's name was Erin and that's a rarity. Even more interesting was her nickname, which was Nissie. I don't know which is better, although there's something demure about Erin (the reality however is something entirely different).

Going back to my present crush, well, her full name is a unique package and again, if nothing else, it's wonderful to pronounce. There's probably even something metaphorical in it.

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