Coffeestops!

This post was done in the midst of a heated debate between Sarven, Nic and Ying Wei in a msn conference.
ACCA versus nanotech.
A patheticly childish squabble initiated by dear old Sarven.
Haizz… Here we go again.

A couple of months ago, there was a sudden interest which pop out from no where among a number of my classmates, on the origin of our names.
Its a norm, or it can be said as a must, for parents to name their child something that helm a positive meaning behind it.

Something meaningful..

Something beautiful..

Something flowery..

I mean, you can’t just name your child Baba or Nyonya don’t you?
No offence to anyone named as such.
…
Erm, I think I rather not take the risk of offending anybody though.
Allow me to rephrase my insensitive words.

You can’t simply name your child dumb a** or dumbo don’t you?

To my jaw dropping surprise, practically everybody knew what their name means.
Well, as usual, everybody except me.
I never knew what Irna means.
To be downright honest, I just merely do not see the need to do so.

Call me oblivious.
Call me ignorant.
And I will furiously defend myself.

To illustrate my point, having a name that meant “smart” doesn’t necessary means you are Einstein the 2nd.
Having a name that meant “beautiful” doesn’t guarantee you will qualify to enter the beauty pageant.
And what does having a name that meant “light“? That it means you will never experience blackout in the middle of the night?
Or as cliche as it may sound, its that you will be able to see the “light” at the end of the tunnel?
But what if it doesn’t symbolise the exit?
What if the light came from the headlights of a train coming at full speed to bang you!!

Hence, having the name “Irna” doesn’t guarantee that I will be Irna-ish or whatever that name turns out to be.

I was soon intrigued anyhow.
Curiosity took the better of me.
And as I should have known all along, curiosity kills the stinking cat.

All I last knew or bother to know about the history of my name was that my dad came across it in the newspaper way back in 1989.
Dr.Irna or something.
Laugh all you want dear readers.
Out of sheer randomness, I verified it with my mum.

And what a shock I get!!!

For the past 18 or soon to be 19 years of living in this planet called Earth bearing the name Irna which I happened to truly love, I was under the impression that my name came from an unknown stranger on one unknown newspaper. Not that that is a big deal. Its just that thats the impression I held all along.

To be told a 180 degree turn story definitely turned my world upside down as well.

Gasp!! I have been living in a lie all along!!

History behind the name Irna

The wacky old man of mine was walking along the street in Brunei shortly before I was born when he came across a huge banner.

Iran Republic Newspaper Agency.

Oh. It stands for I.R.N.A.

Okay, thats my 3rd daughter’s name.

I WAS NAMED AFTER A NEWSPAPER AGENCY?!?!?!?!

No wonder I can never keep my mouth shut.

Last 5 posts by Irna

• The Vampire's Delicacy. - November 25th, 2008
• Ngai Wei Ling, the 19 year old. - September 2nd, 2008
• Mother's Language - July 22nd, 2008
• Superhero in disguise - May 3rd, 2008
• Methodist College Kuala Lumpur Scholarships - March 13th, 2008