what knot to kname your kid

Hi. I'll have you know I'm typing this instead of folding laundry.

Today you have the blessed privilege of enjoying one of my rollicking, bounding mental tangents. You see, this morning at breakfast, Karl and I laughed with each other about the name Kingsley. It's a slightly funny name, but it sounds completely disastrous when you add our last name to it.

I racked my brain over odd name combinations when I was pregnant with the boys. Some first names sound great with another, and some are linguistic train wrecks. "Sally Smith" is nice, don't you think? The identical consonants work well together. "Sissy Smith" is a different story. When you ssay it you ssound like a ssnake.

This is why I culled names like Nicholas and Victor right away. Before your kids can say their own names, you've got people running around calling them "Nick Keip." Do you see how that doesn't work?

In Linguistic terms, a "k" sound is called a voiceless velar plosive. To make the sound, you stop the flow of air out of your mouth by touching the back part of your tongue against your soft palate (the velum) without using your vocal cords. Try it a few times. Now say "Nick Keip" three or four times. You have to make two voiceless velar plosives in a row, and it sounds like you've got a salmon bone stuck in your throat.

Now, say my name (or my husbands) a few times. Better, eh? Almost poetic. Makes you want to cry for all the beauty. Our names are easier to say because the "K" sounds are separated by other vowels and blended consonants.

Here's another name that sounds hilarious with our last name: Cooper.

Aren't you glad you read all this?