How Lindsay Alice picked her own name

Madeleine, Abigail, Anna, Vivian, Christina, Daphne. What do these names have in common? None of them are Lindsay. I've forgotten the few dozen names we bandied about before she picked her own name, but Lindsay was not on the list.

Last fall, we had a wonderful weekend in Gunma prefecture. We went up with a friend and met a Japanese family who had arranged a night's lodging at a traditional ryokan in Kusatsu, a famous onsen town. It was a perfect weekend with good company, delicious food, and lots of relaxation. And there were trees!  I miss trees living in Tokyo.

A pre-dinner stroll through town after our bath.

The first half of our kaiseki dinner.

On Sunday, as we drove through Nagano to catch the train back to Tokyo, I was in a half-dozy, very happy state with the fall sun streaming through the windows, lost in thought about the last time I had been in the area. I had enjoyed many ski trips with friends, including to Nagano, when I previously lived in Japan. For some reason, my sleepy thoughts settled on an acquaintance named Lindsay. Although I liked Lindsay, we weren't close friends, but she was foremost in my mind for some reason. Jason, lost in his own thoughts about skiing, turned to me at that exact moment and asked "What about Lindsay?" Lindsey Vonn is a famous skier.

Enjoying a perfect fall day in Nagano.

I snapped out of my reverie, my jaw dropped and I momentarily suspected that Jason might have supernatural powers. We didn't completely settle on the name Lindsay that day (or the spelling), but I maintain that Lindsay settled on it for us.

As for Alice?  We originally considered Lindsay Ann, but in mid-December I came home from work and asked, "What do you think about Alice?" Jason said he had always liked that name, had just downloaded Alice in Wonderland, and was also going to suggest it. And that's how Lindsay Alice picked her own name.

Future Olympic Skier?