who's Aurora?
Today, I was talking to the grandfather of a little girl Raspberry played with all last summer and he asked, "how's Aurora?" and for a moment there, I blanked as to who he was talking about and, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit, actually thought for a microsecond, "who's Aurora?".
Hardly anyone calls Raspberry Aurora anymore. Sometime during the fall or winter, I started introducing her as Raspberry to anyone who asked her name and she's been introducing herself as such too (well, sometimes she says she's Meerkat Yow-Fairs Flower Daisy Mother Hen Chick Chameleon, at which point I interject and ask her to give her actual name and she says very matter-of-factly, "but you can call me Raspberry"). At storytime this past winter, I asked her what name she wanted to use to sign up and she decided on Raspberry. The only people who call her Aurora anymore are my brother, Lucas' family, and whichever parents and kids we've formally met in the neighbourhood up to last summer or so.
I keep thinking we should've included "Raspberry" in her birth certificate. It'll cost $135 to do so now (well, that was going rate when I looked it up two or three years ago anyway). In the three weeks or so we spent debating her official name, we tried to include some reference to Raspberry in her name. We didn't like the Finnish word for it, so we tried the Polish word, only to Google it and come up with a porn star's site as one of the top hits. The Chinese word for raspberry was inconclusive; you had to know exactly what kind of Raspberry you were referring to and none of the child variety. Lucas didn't want to simply add "Raspberry" to her already long name (first name, middle name, Chinese name comprising two words, double-barrelled last name), although I had no qualms about doing so. I would do it, if I had $135 just lying about and no need for extra money. And oh yeah, if Lucas agreed, of course. Alternatively, if adult Raspberry decided she wanted her official name changed, she could always go ahead and do it herself and save me the trouble. Ha. For now, maybe I should periodically remind myself what her official name is, so the next time someone mentions Aurora, I don't have a blank stare, even if it's just for a split second.