A Rose

It is a long-standing, firmly held opinion of mine that any daughter I have will have a woman's name. And by that, I mean a name that is not derived from a man's name - at least not quite so obviously as Nigella, despite her loveliness. I have a standalone name, to which it took me a great deal of time to become accustomed. I did not particularly like it - when I was growing up, only old ladies had my name. Now, it seems, every time I go to the doctor's surgery there is at least one child with my name who is roaring around and being yelled at; I think--no, I know--that I preferred the rarity of my moniker. I liked being the only one. And while I do not want my child to have a name along the lines of Ptolemy or Peaches, I would like her to feel special in the way I often did.

Anyway, it's moot now. As it turns out, I should avoid vowels and "feminine" names if I want her to be any good at science. So Nigel it is. That's bloody well rare.