Our darling Olivia has grown quite fond of a certain pink pig who happily shares her same name. We love the Olivia books and the new(ish) cartoon about her--our baby sings along when the title sequence plays her name again and again. It is very cute. And we do enjoy Olivia the pig around here.
But...
I want my baby to know she was most definitely not named after a farm animal. She is named after the beautiful and endearing (if not overly passionate :) character created by none other than Shakespeare himself in the play Twelfth Night (a long time favorite of mine--my adoration most likely beginning with my stay on a certain island in Cornwall many years ago...)
So, when Olivia asks me about her name I will refer her to this and then hope she'll indulge me in a little iambic pentameter while I read her a few lines spoken by her namesake:
OLIVIA
O, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful
In the contempt and anger of his lip!
A murderous guilt shows not itself more soon
Than love that would seem hid: love's night is noon.
Cesario, by the roses of the spring,
By maidhood, honour, truth and every thing,
I love thee so, that, maugre all thy pride,
Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide.
Do not extort thy reasons from this clause,
For that I woo, thou therefore hast no cause,
But rather reason thus with reason fetter,
Love sought is good, but given unsought better.
4 comments:
Woohoo for St. Michael's Mount!
So I of course had to look up Sadie after going to the baby name link and found out it is derived from Sarah and means princess- perfect! I bet most people do that stuff before they name their child- whoops.
Isn't that a great movie version of the play? And you can't beat the setting!
I didn't look up Connor's name before he was born but it means hound lover. Hilarious!
I love her name, and she fits it perfectly. I didn't know that connection to it, though! The Olivia books are hilarious, she is such a strong-willed little pig!
How fun. I never knew that's where you got the name, though I assumed she wasn't named after a pig. But the books have such good design that maybe Joseph wanted to copy a little? I saw a little girl at the library yesterday with an Olivia (pig) shirt on and I was totally wishing I could have an Olivia shirt in my size. PS. We deal with the same things with our Madeline and Eloise, neither of whom are named after the kids books...
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