'What's the Name of the Child?'

It’s funny how sought-after this little name is! You’re curious, and rightly so; it is a big thing. It has felt like a big thing! Getting to know him, what sort of person he is. Some say they don’t need to get familiar with the baby first, and they’ll name their babies even before the birth. ‘They don’t look like anyone when they come out.’ Or, ‘They’ll just grow into the name that you give them.’ For us it was different. We found the name when we were in Paris – on the long list I’d put together, Adam only sort of liked a single one of the names (I was spitting out names, and Adam said yes or no!). But across a pizza at Darocco, I came up with a new name as a joke. It went straight from being a silly name to what we have called him until the point when he came out.

This is why we’ve taken our time with the name. It’s not that we didn’t agree; we just had our doubts. But we are also the kind of people for whom it takes half a Saturday night to choose which film to watch. We couldn’t make a decision if our lives depended on it. And then a name with which someone has to introduce himself for the rest of his life? Shit! As someone who was called Nissen (ed. ‘the elf’ in Danish) for the first 27 years of her life, I know very well how significant a name is, how easy it is to make fun of someone, etc.

So, it’s not because I wanted to be super mystical about the naming thing. It’s just that we needed to make a final decision, which took a few weeks. And then we also wanted to have time to tell our closest family members and friends face to face before sharing with the world.
In a way it’s also quite lovely to have a part of him to ourselves. Like his face, which I’ll only show fleetingly here and there. And actually also his name, yes, lovely to have him to ourselves as it allows us to stay in the ‘new’ bubble for a bit longer. We’re still discussing the extent to which we want to share him on social media, and we don’t have a perfect idea. But it feels nice to keep him to ourselves for a little bit. I’m often re-grammed on social media, and it’s a bit ‘wild wild west’ in the sense that people rarely ask permission first. That’s okay – I can also choose to see the advantages in maybe acquiring a new follower or three. But currently I wouldn’t like it if he were re-grammed and used as a billboard – maybe it’s my mother-protection-gene? Maybe it’s silly and stupid. But right now I feel good about it. Showing him now and then on my story and without his face on insta. Maybe it will change as he grows bigger. Maybe not.

However, I do also sense that my pride as a mother makes me want to show him to EVERYONE. Also on instagram! To the entire world! He is the most gorgeous baby in the world – I think, haha! … And there’s nothing wrong with him. Someone asked, ‘aren’t you afraid that people will think that something is wrong with him? If you create all of this mystery? Nope. As you can see – totally perfect, hehe…

But this name. What is his name then? It’s not Elio, after the beautiful boy in Call me by your name – we did talk about it when we watched it at the cinema, but it’s the favourite name of one of my closest friends. And he’s honestly also too pale for such an exotic name, haha! Without further ado, his name is Eddie Widunok Wichmand, the latter like the both of us. Eddie. A cheeky boy’s name, we think. I don’t know anyone who’s called Eddie. Other than Eddie Skoller. Eddie Murphy and Eddie Redmayne. Ever since we made the decision, we have come across two little boys with the same name on social media. That’s often how it goes, isn’t it? Once you make the decision, you notice it everywhere.