A COUPLE have revealed how they named their children after a chocolate bar and herb.
Geo James revealed she kept her children’s names a secret until they were born so friends and family wouldn’t try to change their minds.
Geo James and her husband Brendan didn’t want to add another TOm or John to the world[/caption]
The pair decided to name their children after a chocolate bar and herb[/caption]
The 32-year-old mum grew up with an unusual name which was misheard and misspelled often, but loved how unique it felt and wanted to do the same for her kids.
Geo’s husband, Brendan James, 34, decided on unique monikers for their sons – Mars, three, and Sage, two.
Geo and Brendan loved both names but opted to keep the names secret until the babies were born – so people couldn’t try to talk them out of it.
But Geo said the unique titles should make their children’s lives better, rather than harder – so they can be “defined as individuals.”
“We didn’t want to make our children’s lives difficult by choosing names that are divisive or hard to spell,” said Geo from Winchester.
“But we wanted names the boys could build their personalities around, and be defined as individuals.
“I didn’t just want them to be another Tom or John in the class.”
Geo said when she was pregnant, they chose the names by writing every name they loved on the whiteboard in the kitchen.
Each week they agreed together to remove one until they narrowed it down to one.
“All names we put on the board had some sort of meaning to us either linked to musicians we love, or classic books we grew up with, or our travels together.”
Geo explained they selected Mars because both she and Brendan love astronomy and space-themed songs and films.
But it’s also a famous confectionery treat we all know and love.
The Mars bar is filled with caramel and soft nougat and covered in milk chocolate.
They selected Sage because they love the flavour of the food, as well as the look of the plant – and it’s “grounding and calming”.
Banned Names in the UK
The UK has no law restricting names, but names that contain obscenities, numerals, misleading titles, or are impossible to pronounce are likely to be rejected when registering a child.
- Hitler
- Monkey
- Cyanide
- Martian
- Akuma
- Chow Tow
- Rogue
Geo said while they’ve never had any outright criticism, they anticipated disapproval as a result of their choices.
She said that was why they didn’t share the names they had chosen for their children before they were born.
She said: “After Mars, people said they couldn’t wait to hear the name we were choosing for our second child.
“But I think people feel more mean saying bad things about an actual baby than just their name!
“Sometimes we get the odd eyebrow, or people thing we’re hippies, but we don’t feel the need to be traditional just for the sake of it.”
