The other day at the bookbuffet (something that a well-known bookshop here organizes twice a year) I met a western couple I know and their beautiful, 4-month old baby.
As always, we talked babies and theirs in particular. It must have been at least 10 minutes if not longer that we chatted about all things little.
When I got back home I realised I had completely forgotten to ask their daughter's name. It is the kind of question that back home is the 2nd or 3rd thing you usually say, and it didn't even cross my mind until way later.
Here in Myanmar children often get their names really late, up to a year after they are born. I have asked for a name so often followed by a 'we don't know yet ' that nowadays I wait until I know the baby is about a year old. Then the relatives and especially the fortune teller all have had enough time to be consulted.
The father of this particular baby I met later and I now know the baby's name. He told me that when the baby was born the hospital staff reacted very surprised when the parents told them their daughters name. Their reaction was along the lines of ' how can you know it already?'. Well, because we westerners usually choose a child's name even before the baby is born. He didn't say so but thought it. It would probably be a difficult thing for Myanmar to comprehend.
I was heartily ashamed of myself though. I knew western etiquette better than that.
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