"A rose by any other name....."

I was out wandering around the garden the other day and a thought popped into my head about the names given to different flowers. Some have very forthright names that make a lot of sense..like Sunflower. It is quite easy to see just why this bloom is named after the sun...it is yellow, after all, and the blossom does "follow" the sun. During the day, the head of this flower will actually turn to face the sun. But then there are some that have weird names. Take the Toad Lily..it is a beautiful flower with a quite...well..not so beautiful name (unless you really like toads!). I guess it goes back to that Notable-Person-in-Charge-of-Naming-Plants, whoever that may be.

All this thinking soon led to a few more random thoughts and as I meandered through the gardens, I started pondering how some people are named after flowers! Mostly ladies have these names bestowed on them but still, there are a few guys that are named after plants. Basil comes to mind as a rather manly name but I also met a Sorrel, once. Daisy, Rose, Iris all seem to have been popular years ago and are now making a comeback in the baby-naming trends. Lily, Jasmine, Violet and Pansy have been always been used as names for little girls and now I hear that Calla, Dahlia, Camellia and Amaryllis are gaining popularity. One flower name that used to be quite the rage but that has fallen from grace is Petunia. (Ever since a certain cartoon pig was called by that handle, it would be a rare instance that anyone would tack that to their little girl!)

Those are all beautiful names and I truly would not mind being called by any of them had my parents felt the need to name me after a flower. At least, all of those are lovely and bring to mind a free-spirited, little sprite! Yes, I would have been A-OK with being dubbed a floral name as long as it was not something like...Toad Lily..or Spiderwort...or Scabiosa! Nope..that would not have been acceptable and might have called for a name-change!