Well, fast forward to the first birthday. We didn’t name our daughter Alexandrina, an 11 letter name, but we came darn close with a 10 letter name. Growing up, my mother made all of our birthday cakes. Our family tradition was that we could request any cake for our birthday. Quite a good deal if you know what I mean! So, when our daughter turned one, I decided to continue the tradition and make and decorate the cake. As I stood at our kitchen decorating her birthday cake, I prepared to write out her 10 letter name. I estimated the size of the letters and spacing and set to work. By the fourth letter it dawned on me, what the heck had I done to this poor child with giving her such a long name? She would never learn to spell her name!

Later as I was chatting with my Mom, I reminisced about my realization to which she replied that was one of the reasons why she had given me a short name-Lisa! Great! Clearly, neither my husband nor I were thinking clearly following childbirth. So, over the next couple years, I figured out different solutions for the birthday cakes which included, ta-da, getting a bigger birthday cake!

As our daughter began to learn to spell her name, she came to us one day and said, “Why did you give me such a long name? I’ll never learn to spell my name!” Super! What’s a Mom to do? Change their child’s name? Give them a nickname? (I always refused to call her a nickname because I figured I had worked darn hard to have her and by golly I would call her, her given name selected by us, her most wise parents.)

On top of that how do you get a homeschooled child to learn their name when they don’t need to turn in papers with their name on them, as they would in public or private school? Since I am not a fan of making one do work just for the sake of doing it with no rational behind the work, I had to think of a reason for her to learn her name sooner than later. Not only that but I wanted her to want to do it and I had to figure out a reason quickly.

One day at the library it dawned on me. If she could write her name, she could get a library card. A-ha! I had brilliantly conceived of a reason for her to learn to write her name. So, that day I explained that as soon as she could write her whole name without any help from us, she could get her own library card!

She was so exited at the prospect that she set out to learn her double digit name. Within a couple weeks she announced she was ready to get her library card. So, on our next trip to the library she made the attempt to write her 10 letter name on a 1 ½ inch line. With focused intensity while biting her lip, she carefully printed her name. She presented the completed form to the librarian for approval. After the librarian checked the form she told my daughter that she would get her library card. Our daughter was so excited and so was I! She immediately checked out some books and came home to show off her card to my husband.

Fortunately, with some creative quick thinking I was able to come up with a reason as to why she needed to learn how to write her name sooner than later. As for all of you new parents-to-be thinking about your child’s name, either go for a short name or plan on eating extra cake every year so you can fit your child’s name on the cake!