Will Johnston: Naming a new human a profound event

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What's in a name? Plenty.

Especially when it's given to a new human in front of their closest family and friends.

I did my first naming ceremony over the weekend and I'm just a little bit proud to have been involved.

It was for great mates of mine and their four-week-old baby boy who, by the way, is ridiculously cute.

There are cute babies and there are not (seems harsh, but you know I'm right).

He is maxing out the cute scale. A great friend of mine once described a baby a friend of hers had as resembling an 'old Winston Churchill, eating porridge while chewing on a cigar'. I laughed for days at that image.

Mainly because of its accuracy. Anyway, this 'lil man is not that. He's all cute. Listen to me cluck. That's about as far as I'll cluck though.

I don't really get nervous speaking in public anymore, something about my dignity and shame having left my body over a decade ago when I got in to radio! But I found myself a little nervous just before the naming ceremony began.

Having a bunch of really close family and friends there to celebrate the birth of your first child and make a commitment to be there for him throughout his life seemed like it could even be more important than marriage.

My friends wanted something really chilled out, there were only 15 or so people there and it was down by a stream flowing through one of the grandparent's houses in Whakamarama in the sun.

We said a few words about the responsibility or parenting, baby's parents said a few words. Dad held back the tears... almost. Love seeing a dad get emotional about their son. The truest form of love you might say.

Then we planted a tree by the stream to highlight the growth and change that everyone there will experience from now on. People wrote messages on tags about what they hoped for the wee man.

I even found something profound to say. Usually in any situation where I have to write something in a card or a message I'll write "good luck, you're a god-damn star" (that's the PG version).

Because people never re read those things and it actually doesn't really mean that much to them what you write in a goodbye and good luck card, right?

But this seemed a tad more important. I'm never a fan of profound quotes in these columns that I write because that would involve at least a hint of research. And this is not a school project, so why would I research anything?

But this seems appropriate, from the naming ceremony on Sunday:

"The more this baby is loved the more he will grow as a human being, and the more he is loved the more he will himself have love to give to others."

Almost sounds religious huh? Here ends the sermon then!

Love trumps everything, right?

- Will Johnston is host of The Hits 95FM Day Show. Live and local from 9am till 3pm, every weekday in the Bay of Plenty.