I spent months trying to choose that perfect one-of-a-kind name for my second child. I wanted that weird and wild name that nobody else in their class would have, even pencilling in names on the more unusual end, like Petal Blossom Rainbow. Sadly, Jamie Oliver had already taken that moniker for his third daughter. I threw aside other names on the top of my list: Talulah, Boudicca and Valentina. I wanted a name beginning with “L” to match my eldest daughter Lola, whose name came to me in a lightbulb moment, as if she was always destined to be called that.
Ultimately, I decided to play it safe to avoid ridicule in the playground – and came up with Liberty, even contemplating hyphenating it with Ocean, or something really out there, but restrained myself. To my utter shock, however, there are three other Libertys in my daughter’s small primary school (one is now her bestie) and another living down the road. Should I have gone more off-piste?
