2.11.08

"a rose by any other name would smell as sweet..."

Of all the names in the world, why did we name our child Ikaika?

Mr As dad told him (before he passed away 5 years ago) that if he ever had a son to name him Ikaika. He had told Mr A that he wanted to name Mr A Ikaika (but instead he named Mr A after himself, rendering Mr A his lifelong "junior"). It was his favorite name, it meant a lot to him, and he used to scribble it on everything. He made this walking stick from a piece of drift wood he collected at the beach the last time he was in Oregon. We hung it above the closet in Ikas room.



Ikaika, for those of you who dont know, means "strong" in Hawaiian - or "strength within" depending on who you ask and how poetic you want to be. Although I normally gravitate towards names that are a bit more complex, I have to admit that this name is really special and appropriate for this particular kid.

Considering that this name came directly from Papa As instruction, the fact that Ikaika was born on Papa As birthday makes this name choice exponentially more special.


What the name lacks in complexity it certainly makes up for in difficulty of pronunciation! I think its because I studied Japanese in college, but I dont find reading Hawaiian words to be all that complicated (albeit that the length of a word can sometimes cause trip ups). But English phonetics and the way we pronounce vowels makes Ikaika a really hard name for some to say. The first "I" is the source of most of the confusion. For the record, its pronounced EE-kai-kah.



And no...we will NOT be calling him Ike in this lifetime.

4 comments:

  1. I am loving those chartreuse pants!

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  2. Those are from Zutano, a company I am totally in LOVE with (they also did the jacket of that outfit and the little rasta baby jumper/hat pictured a couple posts ago). Their fabrics are just amazingly fun whereas the construction of the clothes is really simple.
    Luckily these were handmedowns from some friends because Zutano is freaking expensive! I could never afford to dress an infant in their stuff...no matter how cute it is!

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  3. Anonymous3.11.08

    Will you ever call him Ika-ika? Even Tae says it sounds cute.

    Did you tell everyone that Ika is "squid" in Japanese? Well, I guess it could be worse. His name could be Ichigo.

    Love,
    Steph

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  4. Awww, what a sweet story! And what a precious little face! Aww.

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