Naming A Book Baby

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Someone with a lot more wordsmith prowess than me wrote that immortal line. I love the words and sentiment, but I beg to differ with the Bard on this issue. Because I’m full of myself, like that. In all seriousness, having named two children and a number of characters, I just don’t know how someone can claim this to be the case.

I agonised over naming my first child to the point of obsession. My husband and I had a shortlist longlist of names...