What's in a Name?

When we named our boys, we wanted to bless them with names that evoked a sense of strength. We also wanted there to be absolutely no confusion as to whether the kids were boys or girls. There seems to be a plethora of names that are doing double duty as boys and girls names nowadays.

Specifically, when we decided on Matthew, we wanted him to be called "Matthew", not "Matt". He just doesn't look like a "Matt" to me. And I think "Matthew" flows better with our two-syllable last name. I wondered how long it would be before we ran into people calling him "Matt" and it wasn't long -- his first day care called him "Matt Matt"; not a big deal, and I didn't correct anyone. I figured it was a term of endearment. Thankfully, he was too young to repeat that, and has been called "Matthew" ever since.

Tonight we were spending family time together, and I asked him a question using his name. He looked at me, patted his chest and said, "Not Matthew. Matt." I think I had better get used to "Matt."