First published in: The Wilde Life // Sep 29, 2020 // 2 min read
In 2004 my (now) husband and I decided to change our surnames to one we both liked the sound of. It really wasn’t a big deal to us, although judging from the responses I usually get when mention it, it would be for most people. We chose Wilde for no real reason other than we both enjoy Oscar Wilde’s writing and it sounded much better than our existing names.
Once the fee was paid and all our documents were changed, we never really thought much about it. That is until we had kids and we began to wonder whether we had created some kind of self-fulfilling destiny.
I’ve joked many times that my kids are “Wilde by name, wild by nature”; however it was only when looking for alternative adjectives to describe this blog that I realised just how accurate that may be.
A quick google of synonyms for “wild” throws up (among other things) the following:
Boisterous
Fierce
Unconventional
Passionate
Weird
Untamed
Hilarious
Intense
Unkempt
Random
Headstrong
Carefree
Temperamental
Imaginative
Vibrant
Loud
Obsessed
Each one of those words perfectly describes my Wilde things. I could have listed dozens more. And it turns out, there’s a word for this kind of thing – a few actually. Aptroym, aptonym and euonym all mean “a name peculiarly suited to its owner”; nomen est omen dates back to Roman playwright Plautus and translates to “the name is a sign”.
Perhaps if we had known this, we would have reconsidered the name. I’m glad we didn’t though.
I love the fact my kids are wild and carefree, yet fiercely passionate about things that inspire them. I love that they are headstrong and unconventional, that they see the world with an intense curiosity and have vibrant imaginations.
Sure, they are loud and boisterous, they are capricious and temperamental – utterly obsessed with something and then abandoning it altogether. But the positives far outweigh any negatives.
My journey with my Wilde things has taught me to embrace my own wild side, reframe how I view myself and others, and to recognise the benefits of being “weird” and “unconventional”.
Maybe we all need to be a little more wild…
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