Just one more comment today. I've always been intrigued by a Charles being called Charlie or Chuck or a Robert being called Bob. I often wonder how they arrived at changing their names from the original.
Such a great read, I’ve never liked my name as it was so popular for my age group, at secondary school there were 13 Tracey’s! But now I’m not so bothered by it! My Dad (bless him) did want to call me Kirsty, but my Mum did stop that as she felt it was putting a ‘curse’ on me 🤣🤣 names are very interesting thanks Leslie 😊
I loved this. I am Liza with a z, but pronounced Leeza (because that is how we say it in my mother tongue), but I get called Liza (like MInelli), or Liz or Lisa. My father wanted to name me Stefan (prounouced with a Shtefan) and my mother wanted me to be Ivana, until they settled on Liza. I recently wrote a post about the fact tha in my mother tongue Liza rhymes with 'from Paris" and how that created a life long love for the city.
I love that your name has a connection to Paris. Not a bad city to be associated with. I love hearing what people were almost named. It's fascinating to think about who they would have been "as someone else."
Such good imagery and a great read as always, Leslie.
In Chinese culture, a name starts with the family prefix and a chosen second part that's meant to be 'auspicious'. I had enough issues as the only 'different' kid at the local UK school without people misusing my middle name or worse, its translation 'beautiful lotus.' Naming cross-cultures, or anglicising, can be fraught. I'm glad my parents chose Victoria —after the plums, not the queen, or so I'm told! ;-)
As an Abbey, I never like my name growing up because I never saw it anywhere else except for the album after which I was named. I was the only one. And that’s never fun for a kid… it feels weird instead of special.
But now I love it. It’s different. Especially how it’s spelled. I never see my correct name on any of those novelty license plate tags, and that’s ok. It just means I get to be special instead of weird.
My name- which I don't even use on here for privacy reasons because there is only ONE of my name combinations- and I have a complicated relationship. It's like faux foreign. It's a spelling nightmare (I have a legal and a local spelling bc pre real ID it didn't matter). And though it looks exactly like another common American name with a subbed out set of consonants, it is rarely if ever pronounced correctly.
I'm from the Midwest, so my family and friends there have a different way of pronouncing it than all the folks I know and meet in Texas where I live now.
I dreamt of changing it and my mom told me to wait until I was an adult and do it, but I never found a name that fit.
Once I became pregnant with my first child, I felt differently about my name. I realized how my parents must've spent time coming up with a name that they both agreed on, that it was one they must have been excited to give to me, and that it was surely chosen with love. With that, I let go of the idea of changing it.
Now I think of it as a gift, and as with all gifts we don't like, it's more the thought that counts.
I love this. Such a fun read. I’ve always loved being a Stefanie. I don’t think you nailed me with your definition of Stephanie. But maybe I’m different since mine is with an “f”. Or maybe I am the Stephanie you describe and I just don’t know it.
This is funny. It’s on my list to write about my own boring name, in a different way. Here’s a sneak peek—my mom hated my name so she called me Baby for months. Maybe why I dislike my own effin name. What do you think?! I am turning this into both a therapy session and a Note. 😅
I think if it pings something inside you, you should write about it. I actually think writing about your name is a good prompt for anyone. Everyone has some sort of story or feeling about their own. The first thing I think about with Baby is "No one puts Baby in the corner."
I have always, always hated my first and last names.
Jodi is a gender neutral name, and gender neutral was not a thing growing up in the 50s and 60s. There was definitely nothing girly about it. Everyone gets the both wrong. I have been Judy, Julie and even Jeff.
Doff always sounded like a handful of mud hitting the ground. I have been Duff, Duffy, Dorf, Doofus (thank you public school children, I hope you all get gout). That said, I'm the last of the line and probably wouldn't change my name, even if I got married, also, why would I?
If my father had his way, and I was a boy, I would have been Lorenzo. Lorenzo Doff. My father was an idiot.
Mom had the name Jodi picked out before they were even dating, and would smack a kid upside the head if she heard them call me Jo.
Jews name for their revered dead, I was named after my grandfather Joe, dead long before my parents met and apparently a real jerk and philanderer. So, in my imaginings I would have kept the J and been Jolene or Joliet (after the prison). I imagined myself and Aida (combining my grandmothers name - Ida, and what she changed it to - Ada), or Helenka, after another grandma.
I met a boy named Hank Dorf, and thought he'd be a good candidate for marraige since half my mail came addressed to Judy Dorf anyway.
My closest friends from early sobriety still call me Yetta because someone, somewhere thought that was my name for no good reason, and it stuck. It fits. It fits my inner bubbie.
I have been JJ and Double J when I worked in the shadows. And I hear my fathers voice echoing over my shoulder, "I don't care what you call me, just don't call me late for dinner."
Also, I knew a girl whose name was Jennifer, but she didn't like the way that sounded when she took her husbands name, so she changed it to Ruby. We called her Ruby who used to be Jennifer when we talked about her. When she got divorced, she went back to Jennifer, and became Jennifer who was Ruby who used to be Jennifer. Each change was legal, paperwork and all. Sheesh.
You should turn this into a piece. I think writing about your name is a good prompt for anyone. Jodi, Jolene and Juliet have a nice ring to me, probably because I named my daughter Josie. They're all close. Yetta would be original for sure. It makes me think of yada, yada, yada.
I hated my name growing up. Legally it was "Julien Mahn" which should sound like "Juleeeen Mawn" but everyone said "Julian Man".
I legally changed the spelling of my first name to "Julene" (which some people still say incorrectly, surprisingly) and married into an easy last name of Cole.
I made sure to name my boys easy-to-pronounce names (Eddy, Jacob and Alex) because I didn't want them suffering horribly the way I did 🤭🤭💖
I thought I chose pretty easy names for my kids. My daughter’s name is Josie. But at her very first appointment as a newborn baby, I missed them calling her name in the waiting room because they kept calling for Jose.
This really hit me. I was almost Daphne Rowe. Daphne?!?! Thank gawd my mom came to her senses; of course, I would’ve dropped Daphne and gone with Rowe. Sometimes I think of changing it to that. I always wanted to be Lisa. Three out of four cheerleaders were Lisas. I painted the megaphones.
I had a spiritual counselor tell me years ago that your first name is how you want others to see you, your middle name is the emotions you carry deep inside, and your last name is your life's direction. Ever since, I have been fascinated by the meaning of names. Leslie, your name is from Scotch Gaelic and it means "one who lives in the gray fortress."
I think that’s a cool breakdown of name connotations. And yes, I’ve looked up my name’s meaning and been less than thrilled with the result. So gloomy!
Great piece! Names. They can be tough. I've always wondered how people can just pick a name for a person (their newborn or newly adopted) and name them. They don't even know them yet. Wait. Look for aspects of a forming personality, as a new parent you're electing to call another human being by a name that might not fit at all. HOW DO people choose? I think it would be quite difficult for me. You should see what I go through coming up with names for my pets. It's quite a process. In the Jewish tradition, new babies are named after dead relatives. That's alway been weird for me. It becomes either a lot to live up to (the memory of the deceased) or a curse of sorts, because you find out later that the person was not all others cracked them up to be. I was named for my maternal grandfather, Norman. I got the female version of his Hebrew name and luckily my cousin was born 5 months before me. She got Norma. At least I can be grateful for the fact that I wasn't born first. An awful fate, that. Norma. (apologies to the Norma-named, it's just not me). I'm going to remember the the "ess" sound and not the "ezz." xo
You definitely won with Nan instead of Norma. Naming my kids was weighty but such a privilege. Luckily both of mine love their names and their names suit them. I guess when a name really doesn’t fit, that’s when nicknames come in. I’ve never understood people who name a kid one thing planning from the start to call them by their middle name or something else. Should have put that in the article now that I think about it! 😂
I'm glad you feel like it was a privilege and that your kids love their names. I was named Nancy Ellen at birth. Never fit, so yes, my nickname became my chosen name. I changed it legally about 10 years ago. Got rid of my middle name, too. I have Hebrew names as well, as is the custom. I love those now, when I learned the meanings of the two names. Nechamah (comfort) Yehudit (the Jew!) Works for me. xo
Just one more comment today. I've always been intrigued by a Charles being called Charlie or Chuck or a Robert being called Bob. I often wonder how they arrived at changing their names from the original.
I agree. And the even bigger question is Dick out of Richard???
Such a great read, I’ve never liked my name as it was so popular for my age group, at secondary school there were 13 Tracey’s! But now I’m not so bothered by it! My Dad (bless him) did want to call me Kirsty, but my Mum did stop that as she felt it was putting a ‘curse’ on me 🤣🤣 names are very interesting thanks Leslie 😊
Ha! I never thought of Kirsty as sounding like a curse, but now I will. Yes, names are so interesting. Thanks for reading and responding!
You’ll always be my LEL! ❤️ ( I forgot Doug gave you that name)
Yes! You are one of the friends I was talking about. It would be weird to hear you call me Leslie. 🤣
I loved this. I am Liza with a z, but pronounced Leeza (because that is how we say it in my mother tongue), but I get called Liza (like MInelli), or Liz or Lisa. My father wanted to name me Stefan (prounouced with a Shtefan) and my mother wanted me to be Ivana, until they settled on Liza. I recently wrote a post about the fact tha in my mother tongue Liza rhymes with 'from Paris" and how that created a life long love for the city.
I love that your name has a connection to Paris. Not a bad city to be associated with. I love hearing what people were almost named. It's fascinating to think about who they would have been "as someone else."
Such good imagery and a great read as always, Leslie.
In Chinese culture, a name starts with the family prefix and a chosen second part that's meant to be 'auspicious'. I had enough issues as the only 'different' kid at the local UK school without people misusing my middle name or worse, its translation 'beautiful lotus.' Naming cross-cultures, or anglicising, can be fraught. I'm glad my parents chose Victoria —after the plums, not the queen, or so I'm told! ;-)
Names are so much more than labels. I love the imagery of a plum. Such a beautiful, succulent fruit.
This is so great, LeSlie!!! ;-)
“I love making loops” made me giggle.
As an Abbey, I never like my name growing up because I never saw it anywhere else except for the album after which I was named. I was the only one. And that’s never fun for a kid… it feels weird instead of special.
But now I love it. It’s different. Especially how it’s spelled. I never see my correct name on any of those novelty license plate tags, and that’s ok. It just means I get to be special instead of weird.
100%. There’s also a very cool restaurant/bar in LA called The Abbey. You need to go if you haven’t.
Oh my god love The Abbey. Yes
I love hearing what people were almost named. This was such a fun post, Lesss-lie! :)
Ha! Thanks for the correct pronunciation. I'm guessing you have some stories about people confusing the spelling of your name...
Oh yes! I’ve gotten all the usual suspects and a few curveballs to boot 😂
My name- which I don't even use on here for privacy reasons because there is only ONE of my name combinations- and I have a complicated relationship. It's like faux foreign. It's a spelling nightmare (I have a legal and a local spelling bc pre real ID it didn't matter). And though it looks exactly like another common American name with a subbed out set of consonants, it is rarely if ever pronounced correctly.
I'm from the Midwest, so my family and friends there have a different way of pronouncing it than all the folks I know and meet in Texas where I live now.
I dreamt of changing it and my mom told me to wait until I was an adult and do it, but I never found a name that fit.
Once I became pregnant with my first child, I felt differently about my name. I realized how my parents must've spent time coming up with a name that they both agreed on, that it was one they must have been excited to give to me, and that it was surely chosen with love. With that, I let go of the idea of changing it.
Now I think of it as a gift, and as with all gifts we don't like, it's more the thought that counts.
I love this story of eventual acceptance. It’s so interesting to me that almost everybody has a strong opinion about their own name.
I love this. Such a fun read. I’ve always loved being a Stefanie. I don’t think you nailed me with your definition of Stephanie. But maybe I’m different since mine is with an “f”. Or maybe I am the Stephanie you describe and I just don’t know it.
I actually thought about you and no — you are not the Stephanie I described. The spelling definitely makes a difference. 😂
This is funny. It’s on my list to write about my own boring name, in a different way. Here’s a sneak peek—my mom hated my name so she called me Baby for months. Maybe why I dislike my own effin name. What do you think?! I am turning this into both a therapy session and a Note. 😅
I think if it pings something inside you, you should write about it. I actually think writing about your name is a good prompt for anyone. Everyone has some sort of story or feeling about their own. The first thing I think about with Baby is "No one puts Baby in the corner."
I have always, always hated my first and last names.
Jodi is a gender neutral name, and gender neutral was not a thing growing up in the 50s and 60s. There was definitely nothing girly about it. Everyone gets the both wrong. I have been Judy, Julie and even Jeff.
Doff always sounded like a handful of mud hitting the ground. I have been Duff, Duffy, Dorf, Doofus (thank you public school children, I hope you all get gout). That said, I'm the last of the line and probably wouldn't change my name, even if I got married, also, why would I?
If my father had his way, and I was a boy, I would have been Lorenzo. Lorenzo Doff. My father was an idiot.
Mom had the name Jodi picked out before they were even dating, and would smack a kid upside the head if she heard them call me Jo.
Jews name for their revered dead, I was named after my grandfather Joe, dead long before my parents met and apparently a real jerk and philanderer. So, in my imaginings I would have kept the J and been Jolene or Joliet (after the prison). I imagined myself and Aida (combining my grandmothers name - Ida, and what she changed it to - Ada), or Helenka, after another grandma.
I met a boy named Hank Dorf, and thought he'd be a good candidate for marraige since half my mail came addressed to Judy Dorf anyway.
My closest friends from early sobriety still call me Yetta because someone, somewhere thought that was my name for no good reason, and it stuck. It fits. It fits my inner bubbie.
I have been JJ and Double J when I worked in the shadows. And I hear my fathers voice echoing over my shoulder, "I don't care what you call me, just don't call me late for dinner."
What's in a name. A lot. A whole lot.
Also, I knew a girl whose name was Jennifer, but she didn't like the way that sounded when she took her husbands name, so she changed it to Ruby. We called her Ruby who used to be Jennifer when we talked about her. When she got divorced, she went back to Jennifer, and became Jennifer who was Ruby who used to be Jennifer. Each change was legal, paperwork and all. Sheesh.
That's a lot. I never even changed my name when I got married. I feel the same as you. Why should I?
You should turn this into a piece. I think writing about your name is a good prompt for anyone. Jodi, Jolene and Juliet have a nice ring to me, probably because I named my daughter Josie. They're all close. Yetta would be original for sure. It makes me think of yada, yada, yada.
I hated my name growing up. Legally it was "Julien Mahn" which should sound like "Juleeeen Mawn" but everyone said "Julian Man".
I legally changed the spelling of my first name to "Julene" (which some people still say incorrectly, surprisingly) and married into an easy last name of Cole.
I made sure to name my boys easy-to-pronounce names (Eddy, Jacob and Alex) because I didn't want them suffering horribly the way I did 🤭🤭💖
I thought I chose pretty easy names for my kids. My daughter’s name is Josie. But at her very first appointment as a newborn baby, I missed them calling her name in the waiting room because they kept calling for Jose.
Awww I think Josie is a pretty name! Does she like it?
She does!
This really hit me. I was almost Daphne Rowe. Daphne?!?! Thank gawd my mom came to her senses; of course, I would’ve dropped Daphne and gone with Rowe. Sometimes I think of changing it to that. I always wanted to be Lisa. Three out of four cheerleaders were Lisas. I painted the megaphones.
I actually like the name Daphne. Maybe it goes back to my love of Scooby Doo? Rowe is cool. And I bet those Lisas had the coolest megaphones.
Ok, this is RIDICULOUS.
I was nearly named Stephanie and always wanted to be a Kelly.
I’ll take a bouquet of smegmas, please! 🤣🤣🤣
Of course this makes perfect sense!!! And of course you get it about the roses.
I had a spiritual counselor tell me years ago that your first name is how you want others to see you, your middle name is the emotions you carry deep inside, and your last name is your life's direction. Ever since, I have been fascinated by the meaning of names. Leslie, your name is from Scotch Gaelic and it means "one who lives in the gray fortress."
I think that’s a cool breakdown of name connotations. And yes, I’ve looked up my name’s meaning and been less than thrilled with the result. So gloomy!
Great piece! Names. They can be tough. I've always wondered how people can just pick a name for a person (their newborn or newly adopted) and name them. They don't even know them yet. Wait. Look for aspects of a forming personality, as a new parent you're electing to call another human being by a name that might not fit at all. HOW DO people choose? I think it would be quite difficult for me. You should see what I go through coming up with names for my pets. It's quite a process. In the Jewish tradition, new babies are named after dead relatives. That's alway been weird for me. It becomes either a lot to live up to (the memory of the deceased) or a curse of sorts, because you find out later that the person was not all others cracked them up to be. I was named for my maternal grandfather, Norman. I got the female version of his Hebrew name and luckily my cousin was born 5 months before me. She got Norma. At least I can be grateful for the fact that I wasn't born first. An awful fate, that. Norma. (apologies to the Norma-named, it's just not me). I'm going to remember the the "ess" sound and not the "ezz." xo
You definitely won with Nan instead of Norma. Naming my kids was weighty but such a privilege. Luckily both of mine love their names and their names suit them. I guess when a name really doesn’t fit, that’s when nicknames come in. I’ve never understood people who name a kid one thing planning from the start to call them by their middle name or something else. Should have put that in the article now that I think about it! 😂
I'm glad you feel like it was a privilege and that your kids love their names. I was named Nancy Ellen at birth. Never fit, so yes, my nickname became my chosen name. I changed it legally about 10 years ago. Got rid of my middle name, too. I have Hebrew names as well, as is the custom. I love those now, when I learned the meanings of the two names. Nechamah (comfort) Yehudit (the Jew!) Works for me. xo
I like this about you!
I do too! xo
I love those meanings. My name means gray fortress, so that’s kind of depressing.
A fortress is solid, but I would have decorated it in another color...purple maybe? xo
Yes! Purple is my favorite color!
I noticed! Despite what people think, I am NOT psychic. Just observant. xo