Grammar Girl here. I'm in Jan Fogarty, and today we're going to talk about why some names capture a person's essence and how to write with dependent clauses.

This first piece is by Valerie Friedland.

So when you hear me say, I, that's her.

When I was pregnant with my daughter,

my husband and I decided to keep her name a secret

until she was born.

Why?

Because every Tom, Dick, and Jane

had an opinion about the names we were considering.

But we also struggled to come up with one that both of us felt would serve her well.

Sloan?

Nice, but maybe too serious sounding?

Madison?

Too likely to become a nickname like Mads.

Clarice?

Nope, ruined by association with Hannibal Lecter. For a while, it looked like

she was going to remain nameless until she was a teen. Our difficulty coming up with a baby's

name is far from unique. Many people have strong, negative, or positive associations with

certain names. But why? Turns out the question,

what's in a name, has occupied thinkers for centuries in addition to every prospective parent.

In fact, the sense that some names just feel right, while others don't quite fit, like calling

a Great Dane Fifi, can be traced all the way back to antiquity.

...