Sunday, May 29, 2011

The Name Game

In all my years in practice I have never been asked to name a child.  Well, I hit the jackpot here in Njinikom, Cameroon.  This is a land of twins, without any help from medicos.  I have never seen so many twin births in all my life.  So, I was asked to name a set of girl twins last week.  The mother had delivered premature girls who had been in one incubator together until big enough to be in an open crib.  

Mom asked me one day if I would give her two English names and write them down for her.  This is a country that has both English and French speaking regions, we are in the English region here in the Northwest area near Nigeria.  I thought it only fair that I pick both an English and a French set of names and let her decide which she actually liked.  My English names, a bit on the Royal side, were Elizabeth and Margaret and the French names I thought were quite catchy: Marie and Cherie.  She chose Marie and Cherie(my favorite too). 

We wish Marie and Cherie long, happy, and healthy lives.  Thanks, mom, for allowing me to play the name game.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Eddy,
    Two postings. Where have I been?
    You did a terrific job of naming the twins. Rhyming names are great on the tongue. Marie and Cherie. Lovely. Is a study in order on why there are so many twin births in Cameroon? Hope it's not the mosquitoes!

    There was an article which I found fascinating in Sunday's New York Times about conjoined twins, which I will send to your personal email for reading (in your spare time!).

    Cheers,
    Alice

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