What's in a name?

Once upon a time there was a young maiden who - for reasons unclear to everyone in the kingdom except herself - became obsessed with names. The young maiden liked to play with dolls and make believe they were princesses. She gave each one a name consisting of nonsensical syllables such as Yuya (pronounced You-yah), Nuya (rhymes with Yuya) and Lala.

To the fair-haired child the names made perfect sense, and she expected all those around her to remember the names as well.

But her insistence on naming rights didn't stop there. In fact, she was just getting started. Her next quirky rule was to try and change the names of the princesses and princes in her favorite storybooks. She loved the story of Beauty and the Beast, but refused to have the Beast called as such. "He's a prince!" she insisted, correcting her mother repeatedly as the bedtime story was read. (Have you ever counted how many times the character is referred to in the story as the Beast?)

Sleeping Beauty is an even greater challenge. (Pardon me as I slip out of third-person writing mode.) For those who haven't read it in a while, the name "Sleeping Beauty" is only used once in the book at the very end. The character's real name is Aurora, though she is later given the nickname Briar Rose.

Not in Miss Sydney's fairy tale world. "Call her Sleeping Beauty," she instructs each time I mess up and read what's actually printed on the page.

And then there's Cinderella's friend Prince Charming.

Did you guess? Sydney doesn't want him called that any more. No reason given for the switch. Sydney has informed me that his name is now Michael.

At least she still calls me Mommy.