What's in a name?

My daughter, Caroline, is 9 months pregnant. We visited her in Dublin while she was in her eighth month, in fact, we stayed with her and her husband. In the quiet after dinner one night the subject of names arose, well, I brought it up. I suggested that I do not wish that my daughter and her husband, Gav, to name a child after me. She knew that anyway and I felt the chances of that happening was .001% but I felt the need to reduce it to 0%, just in case they had lost their collective wits in the "run up" (as English newsreaders say) to the birth.

"Jack" was at the top of their name list. Not John, Jack. "There was no St Jack - no Catholic priest would baptise a child 'Jack', for the love of Pete", I exclaimed. I learned that Jack is a very, very popular name in Holy Catholic Ireland now. "What about Stephen, John or Sean, James or Seamus, Thomas, Edmund, Edward..."I went on, and on. I, of course, recited this litany just to steer her toward more traditional Christian names. And to be honest, Jack, was the only really designer name in the running. My gentle rant was not at her but young people who often value worthless novelty. "Forget popularity: there'll be 5 Jacks in his class, just another pea in a pod, go for Edmund, Sebastian, Raphael, Christopher." (By the way, don't you hate the way smart Alecs named Christopher abbreviate their name "Xfer" these days. Is Christine "Xine"? Xfer is a transfer to the Northen Line and Xine is a sex magazine.)

No, I say, please climb that rock of Irish tradition, honor the martyrs, appreciate the language, all of which made Ireland the great land it is.

Caroline, darling, if you happen to be reading this, any name will be okay, really...(as long as it's Edmund or Thomas).

With Love, Dad -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Calatrava Bridge Update...   

The story continues. Today's papers explain that you can forget the bridge this year and next year. It transpires that the motorised tram for handicapped people which will run up and down the centre of the bridge is not ready, has not received official approval from the authorities, and apparently is on hold as there was insufficient money allocated for it. The city is saying forget 2008.  As a sidebar, it also transpires that the builders made a significant construction error which required scrapping 30 tons of steel. Maybe it can be used for some lame sculpture for the Biennale two years hence. Maybe they could use the bridge itself - work in progress.