Recently, my husband has been browsing Carsensor even more than usual. Is he thinking of buying another car?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not unheard of for car-loving dads to want to name their children after cars, and my husband was no exception. This all happened when I was pregnant with our second daughter. We often talked about wanting a name that would work around the world\u2014something people overseas could remember and pronounce easily. But we just couldn\u2019t settle on a name.<\/p>\n
Then one day, my husband looked at me seriously and said:<\/p>\n
\u201cHow about naming the baby Carrera?\u201d<\/p>\n
(Of course, he meant the Porsche 911 Carrera.)<\/span><\/p>\n C-Carrera\u2026? (-_-)<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat kanji would you use?<\/strong>\u201d I asked. He came up with three characters that sounded like they might work, but at a glance, they looked like the sort of deliberately over-the-top kanji you\u2019d see in a biker gang\u2019s motto. \u201cWe\u2019re not a biker gang,\u201d I said. \u201cWhy not just write it in katakana?\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n Well, if the parents had striking, Western-looking features like actor Masao Kusakari or model Jun Hasegawa, maybe. But giving a katakana name to a child born to two unmistakably Japanese-looking parents felt like a bit much. And what if, once she started elementary school, the boys teased her with puns like \u201cCarrera\u2014because there\u2019s only one of her!\u201d or \u201cHere come They!\u201d?<\/p>\n Before our second daughter was even born, I\u2019d already imagined her entire school life. I did everything I could to stop the \u201cName her Carrera\u201d plan\u2014and eventually managed to get my husband on board.<\/p>\n Husband: \u201cThen what about Serena? The Nissan Serena.\u201d We went back and forth like this, but still couldn\u2019t agree on a name as my belly continued to grow.<\/p>\n Then one day, we were watching a TV documentary about Ayrton Senna when my husband casually asked:<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about Senna? For the baby.\u201d<\/p>\n Senna\u2026 Senna. Hmm. It actually has a nice ring to it.<\/p>\n \u201cI like it. Senna sounds good.<\/strong>\u201d I said. Then my husband pointed out:<\/p>\n \u201cBut Senna\u2019s a surname, though. Still, Ayrton would be even weirder.\u201d<\/p>\n Fair enough\u2026<\/p>\n Ayrton Senna tragically died in a racing accident, but that doesn\u2019t mean everyone named Senna will meet the same fate. After a long period of consideration, we decided to name our second daughter \u201cSenna.\u201d<\/strong> As a compromise that made both the dad who wanted a car-inspired name and the mom who wanted to stop him happy, I think choosing \u201cthe name of a racing driver\u201d<\/strong> worked out pretty well.<\/p>\n Ever since, my husband has joked:<\/p>\n \u201cImagine if Senna grows up to race and they call her the second coming of Ayrton Senna\u2014or the Speed Princess!\u201d<\/p>\n At first, I just laughed along. But\u2026<\/p>\n It\u2019s becoming clear that our second daughter, who\u2019s nearly one, really loves cars. She spends ages playing with ride-on car toys, points excitedly at the car photos displayed around the house, and laughs while pointing whenever a car appears on TV.<\/p>\n If I ask, \u201cWhere\u2019s Mommy?\u201d or \u201cWhere\u2019s Daddy?\u201d she ignores me. But ask, \u201cWhere\u2019s the Porsche?\u201d and she points right to the Porsche photo. Could she really grow up to say, \u201cI want to be a racing driver\u201d?<\/p>\n Well, they do say a name can shape a person.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How About Naming Her \u201cCarrera\u201d? Recently, my husband has been browsing Carsensor even more than usual. Is he thinking of buying another car? It\u2019s not unheard of for car-loving dads to want to name their children after cars, and my husband was no exception. This all happened when I was pregnant with our second daughter. We often talked about wanting a name that would work around the world\u2014something people overseas could remember and pronounce easily....","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/www.panamera-life.com\/?p=17","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nocar-nolife","en-US"],"yoast_head":"So What Did We Name Our Second Daughter?<\/h3>\n
\nMe: \u201cSerena? We don\u2019t even own one.\u201d
\nHusband: \u201cMercedes?\u201d
\nMe: \u201cNo way.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nOur Car-Loving Second Daughter<\/h3>\n