What's in a name?

Mamma and Daddy have known that I have been a little girl for some time now. While I was in utero, they thought long and hard about what to call me.

They wanted to give me a name that they liked, and one that I would be happy with when I am older. Most important of all they wanted to choose names that had direct English/Italian equivalents, so both Daddy's and Mamma's families would be able to pronounce my names without too much difficulty.

There were other factors too!

• My parents wanted to avoid names that would date me. This meant that the names of popular actors or musicians were to be avoided.
• They wanted to give me a name that wasn't so prevalent that there would be many children in my class at school with exactly the same name - for example Jack, Chlöe, Joshua and Emily. My parents do like some of these names, but being one of five Jacks or Emilys in a class would get tiring very quickly.
• Finally my parents wanted to avoid names that were so odd or unusual that I would want to change my name when I get older.

As you know, they decided upon Giulia Margaret

Giulia is the Italian version of the latin name 'Julia' and means 'soft-haired' or 'youthful'.

Margaret (or Margherita in Italian) is a latin/spanish name, and it means 'a pearl'. Although Margaret is not a particularly popular name nowadays, it has a lot of meaning for my Daddy - it was his mother's name. Sadly I will not be able to meet Nana Margaret since she passed away in 1987.

I will have to learn how to pronounce and spell both English and Italian versions of my name, just in case.

Hopefully this will not be too confusing!

Had I been a boy, my parents would have called me Matthew James. But I wasn't so they haven't. So there.