what's in a name?

sabrina has asked for the story of alba's name and, since there actually IS one, i am happy to oblige. here is the story from the start...

at 1 pm on tuesday, march 9th i went into labour with alba valentine. at 3:54 pm she was born in the bath tub in the birth centre at the royal prince alfred hospital. she was born "en caul", or in the caul, meaning that the amniotic sac was intact, something that happens an estimated 1 in 1000 births. we stayed in hospital for almost exactly 20 hours and during this whole time, bublet was known as "baby of elizabeth grant". has a certain ring to it, no? no. we got her home and still didn't know what her name was. she just didn't look like any we had in mind (ok, ONE we had in mind). then a friend suggested that we name her something to do with the fact that she was born "en caul".

here are some of the myths associated with being born in the caul:

• a sign of good luck
• the child will never drown
• the child may become a vampire (yikes - i've got a baby bella on my hands??)
• the child is destined for greatness
• the child will have psychic powers and sees the future

but the best myths are these two:

In Croatian and Slovenian lore, a person born with a caul was destined to become either a Kudlak or a Kresnik. In other words, a person so destined to become a Kudlak would already begin a career of evil while still alive - his soul would leave his body at night in animal form and fly through the air to attack people or to magically do other harm to the community he lived in. When he died, he became an undead vampire who was then an even greater threat to the community. But if a person born with a caul became a Kresnik, he became a champion of the community. While he lived, his soul left his body in animal form at night to fight against both living and undead Kudlaks.*

and

Icelandic culture states a child born with a caul was thought to be special, and this means the child will go through life with a faery companion, a shadow familiar known as the Fylgiar. The Fylgiar serves this person, and it is believed that the person also serves the Fylgiar while asleep or when making deliberate astral projections. This faery can be heard in the home of such a person banging and knocking around. Their most disturbing quality is that they warn their human companions of their own deaths, at which time they can be seen. The condition of the Fylgiar at the time of the sighting indicates what sort of death it will be. A mauled faery means a nasty, painful death, while a peaceful one means a calm, painless death. The Fylgiar continues to live on after the human familiar dies, but it is believed that it accompanies its person to Valhalla, the Nordic Land of the Dead, where it remains until the human soul is comfortable and accepting of his or her demise.*

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caul

it took us a while still, but we knew we had to make sure she was a Kresnik, not a Kudlak (the power of suggestion, you know!) we started looking at white animals, but arctic hare and polar bear didn't really sound so great with grant. bunhead suggested bunny grant, but i think he was joking. and then we decided on alba valentine. alba means white and is the name for scotland in latin (being of the grant clan from aberdeen, we thought this would be fitting, too). it means sunrise in spanish and catalan and its germanic origins come from alb, meaning elf or supernatural being. and valentine? well, valentine is just sweet, like her! now hopefully she'll steer clear of human blood and refrain from stalking the city as some pitch black spirit animal at night. kid needs her sleep!

********

and a timely update from my mama (imagine being born on a ship! maybe then you'd have good luck and be safe from drowning as well):

Alba has ancestors that reflect her name on our side as well and also from aberdeen area --

Her gr gr gr grandmother is of germanic stock (dundas grandpa's mom ) and the original clarkson female from england was actually a spanish maid

Her ancestors on dundas nanny's side are Stewarts and Galbraith's from Scotland. Actually her gr gr gr gr grandmother was born on a ship on her way over from scotland and was named after the ship " Cartha " Stewart (my nanny's grandmother, my gr gr grandma) )

Cartha Morrison STEWART
b. JUN - JUL 1834 aboard the barque Cartha
d. 28 MAY 1882 Beverly Twp. Wentworth Co. , CAN

whose parents were from Campsie parish in Aberdeen area as well