I hope it is easy as A, B, C

“How about Iman Aafreen or Amal Aafreen.. Or Iffa Aafreen..Aafreen means brave or acclaim..Iman is faith and Amal is amalan lah..Iffa jap telupa”; I received this short message from Bapak on 6th May on 11:50 PM and another one 2 minutes after that “Iffah or Iffa means purity or modesty”. My, the naming game was about to start. I tell you, as a parent, the hardest part of parenting is naming a baby. I always hope I can easily naming them Baby A, Baby B, Baby C and the list goes on.

Nek Ma suggested Iffa Rania but the next day she told me it sounded Alfa Romeo, so we thought of another names. Last time for my first daughter, she suggested Dasmeen, Zara and Kaisara but we ended up none of these names. This time she suggested Amanee, I think it’s a sweet name. She’s a teacher, she advised me not to give familiar names. I quote her “Jange-lah bagi nama familiar, kasian ko cikgu-cikgu nok panggil, semua nama sama, kena tagging pulok lepas tu”. Okay, I get it.

Nek Ma and Tok Ba had a great fight, I tell you why. Tok Ba suggested Qistina and Bastitah. They are good names, but he is a teacher no-no. Thank you anyway, you did a good work! Tok Kedah was cool as ever “Takpa-lah nama apa pun asal maqna nya eloq”. Grin.

Naming Baby 101, I quote extraordinary thinker of ordinary things, Auntie Yanti “Please google the names before naming your baby”. See, it is not an easy task. Furthermore I was suffered with spinal headache for four days so I cannot maximize my brilliant brain. I need names with initials I and A. The game was over when we finally came to a final decision. And like Kak Iris, Bapak legally registered your name on your 11th day (17th May 2010). So here you are, a beautiful baby with a beautiful name: Iesha Aafreen means a woman of brave. I hope you will be a brave woman with a beautiful heart.

Iesha Aafreen, you are a woman of brave.