I'm endlessly grateful that my dad didn't have the last word in the naming discussion when I was born. He wanted me to be a Rose-Mary or rather the Swedish Rose-Marie. When pronounced in Swedish this name a) sounds god-awful and b) is shortened to Rosa which is what you usually name cows over here and regardless of cool people like Rosa Luxemburg sharing this name I think it would have been crap in the playground, you know. My mother agreed and they took the middle road and named me Åsa Marie. I've never really liked my name, it has fascinating Norse origins but isn't very pretty. And it's a typical case of a name that was popular in the 50-70's but then went out of fashion.

The boy me would have been Anders or Johan, names I can see myself having but not really warming to. In conclusion I think it's safe to say that I would be slightly more pretentious than my parents if I ever had children. My sister claims that she fears the day a daughter of mine is born and named Christabel Freya Gertrude or some such combination. :)