What's in a name?

I've been passed up. This name, my name, Emily, spent twelve years in the #1 spot for baby girl names. Now little Miss Emma comes into the picture and I'm bumped down to third. Which is fine. Because I've been more interested in rare, crazy names that aren't so mainstream anyway.

One time I met this woman named Soleil. When she first introduced herself to me, I was positively mesmerized just by her name alone. I tried to be patient but I wanted to know the story behind it, the history, does she have brother's and sister's with unique names? Is she the only one? She had this attitude, not that she was better than us but that she was as good as us - and that simply was not true.

For some reason, I hold those with exotic, rare names to a higher standard. They've been blessed with a pretty sweet gift. A name. And it might not seem too important, but to me it is. My favorites? Kale, Soleil, Cohen, Tryg, Elle, Trey, Aero, Leif, Traeh, and many others. Call me crazy, but just because my name was the #1 girls name for most my life doesn't mean my kids are going to be plain jane. In fact, I plan to name them anything but.