Names are funny. From generation to generation, they wax and wane in popularity. When we named our son Ryan, I knew of only one other child by that name;  my sorority sister’s son was 6 years old on the other side of the country. Now, “Ryan”  is as common as John used to be. Alastair, however, seems never to have achieved a high ranking in the past 100 years.
Which is why my daughter and her husband, Harvey, chose it. Every name that they considered was first checked against a list of the 100 most popular names in the past 100 years. “Alastair” was clearly absent from each. So that’s the name they chose.
Shortly after my grandson’s birth, a friend of Harvey’s commented, “With a name like Alastair, it’s knighthood or failure.” Thus, the choice of this embroidery design for his Valentine’s Day shirt.
After choosing the knight from Planet Applique www.planetapplique.com , I decided on the text, “Soon I’ll be your knight in shining armor.” But a senior moment denied me access to the proper spelling and I typed in “amor.”Â
My Latin education kicked in immediately and I knew this was a much better punch line. The heart in “amor” clinched it for me.
It looks like Alastair has slain a hairy “dragon.” But it is only our dog Hannah enjoying the Florida winter sunshine.
When he first saw the shirt, Harvey thought “amor” was missing an e.  He’s an Ivy Leage graduate so I needed to reassure myself that I had not made a serious error. I did some quick research and found this definition in Wikipedia: “amor:  meaning love in many languages.” Whew! I got it right.
Alastair may never be knighted by the Queen of England. Or maybe he will. At any rate,  I’m sure he won’t be a failure–certainly not in the eyes of his adoring Nana.
