NEAR-MISS NAMES. In this day and age names of Filipino children are becoming more modern, but there are still some who insist on the traditional ways of naming their kids; either spelling a name backwards, naming them after saints, the child’s grandparents —or worse— joining the names of the child’s parents. An Ear source recently got in touch with two friends who had the good fortune of missing being named “inappropriately”. One such woman said her father was working at the old Cebu Oxygen and Acetylene Company when she was born. Her grandmother had never heard of the gas before and she took a liking to the name of the gas immediately. So when she was born, her grandmother insisted she be christened “Maria Acetylene”. Luckily her father resisted and the offensive names was dropped for good after a lengthy argument.
Another said she was almost named “Skylab” and not for the famous space station of the 1970’s. She was born in Mindanao after her mother was rushed to a hospital onboard a motorcycle-for-hire modified with planks laid crosswise across the chassis to allow for more seating. These are called “skylab” for their resemblance to the space station. While her mother insisted on the name after her birth, her senses seemed to return after the anesthesia wore off and she gave her a more acceptable name.