May 1, 2010

What's In A Name?

It's been ages since my last post, and there's just sooooo much I wna share I dunno where to begin. Since my baby was born, every time I tell someone my baby's name - Ilhan Moris, I receive about the same response - "wow, mat salleh nya!". So let me start updating my blog by sharing with you that it is definitely not because I perasan mat salleh nor is it because he has mat salleh blood ;p

Moris is actually my mother in law's late father, which makes him my husband's grandfather, and my son's great grandfather. Despite having a very mat salleh name, Datok, as he was fondly called by his cucus, was 100% Malay. Based on his choice of name, Datok's father must be one heck of a cool person!

When my husband introduced me to his family, I found out what a unique surname his mom and her siblings had. It sounded so cool to me...  Nora Moris, Ami Moris, Kay Moris, Faridah Moris :)

Even before we knew the sex of our child, I told Hanif that I would like to name our child after his grandfather, if it was a boy. Not merely because it was a cool name to me, it was also because of all the stories Ive heard about Datok. Datok, I gathered, was an amazing person.

And since we were honouring Hanif's late grandfather, I thought hey, let's honour my late grand father too :) His name was Yeop Adlan. So it was agreed tht if it was a boy, we would name him Adlan Moris. Perfect!

But one fine day, Hanif had a 'bright' idea - we shld include his paternal grandfather's name too!

All I had to do was insist tht we include my maternal grandfather's name to get Hanif change his mind as quickly as he came up with his bright idea. Phew... Otherwise my child's name could have been............ Adlan Hashim Cheah Moris :p

In the end we compromised and chose to stick with just Moris as our kid's 2nd name. (We figured we cld always name our other kids after our late grandfathers.)

And Ive always liked Ilhan. When Hanif came home one day suggesting that name after a string of totally uncool names (like Hamzah. Hellooo... Im not giving birth to an old man. No offense Liza/Linda/Lena) I quickly agreed. Ilhan means precious.

So there, the story behind our son's unique name :) phewwhhh.

3 comments:

  1. Hello dear..

    Stumbled upon your blog while bloghopping.

    My boy's name is Ilhan too. Named after the Turkish footballer.

    Hello from Ilhan to Ilhan!!

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  2. i totally agree! my MIL wanted to intervened in our child's name but luckily hubby & i stuck to our chosen name ;)it doesnt matter whether she's not a nur or a siti...or if he isnt a muhammad or abdul..wat matters is the name has a good meaning..

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  3. hey su, when i first heard ur baby's name, yes i also thot the same way as Moris is a mat salleh's name but not ILHAN. ILHAN is more a classical name. And for u to gather both classic + modern = UNIQUE!!

    Same goes YUSOF ZACHERY, ABDUL MATIN etc..(which nama2 Allah & Nabi) which my friend/cuz got for their son.. i just ♥ it!! i believe all ths names have their own meanings babe, same as yours! ;)

    lets wait for mine, till now tak finalized lagi cos dok argue with my hubby..and guess wat?? we've been arguing on the SPELLING for the past 4 months ..!! huhuhu

    xx

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