I once had to go to this stupid staff retreat where we did a whole bunch of pointless shit. The only thing I liked about the waste of time was the icebreaker thing we did at the start. Our facilitator asked each member of the group to say what we did at the organization, our name, and a simple anecdote about that name. We could say anything we wanted about our name: where it came from, what it meant to us, or just how we learned to spell it. In our small group of about 20 people everyone seemed to have some very interesting things to say about their names. It lead me to ponder the very question that Juliet posed: what’s in a name?
Take my name for example. Although you all know me as Mikey my given name is Michael Paul. Upon first glance it would seem as though my parents are devoutly religious people. In fact, my parents are only devoutly religious when I talk about being an atheist or they are trying to guilt a member of my family into doing something. The real root of my appellation is much less divine. I am the third boy of four born to parents who wanted to have a daughter so badly that they had four kids. My oldest brother is named after my father and my second oldest brother is named after my mother’s father. When my parent’s were preggers with my ass, I think they just assumed they were having the girl they always dreamed of so the only name they had picked out was Michaela. So, my first name got a sex change shortly after I was born.
However, the true trashiness of my name is the source of my middle name. Once my parents had gone and lopped my “a” off to create a more masculine sounding first name, they had the task of giving me a middle name. I am sure they racked their brains over and over looking for the perfect pairing with super generic first name. But in a flash of genius my mother had it! She had the perfect middle name…and where did it come from? Was it Gestalt? Was it God? Was it Gilbert Godfrey? No…although I kind of wish it was the last one. My mother came up with my name because it was the first name of the boy who took her to her prom. That’s right folks! Your favorite blogger is named after a man with muttonchops who wore a powder blue tuxedo.
Now that the shame of my name has been made public, tell me what does your name mean to you. Did your Mom or Dad name you after the family dog? Or worse did you get named after a relative you grew to loathe?
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I’m Emuel Edward, and I’m the 4th one to have the name. Mel’s easier because nobody can pronounce Emuel, though then people assume I must be Melvin (which I loathe), or sometimes Melanie or Melissa. I’ve grown into my name nicely over the years, but I won’t be passing it on. If I were a writer, my pen name would be Ian, though.
Right out of the bible. My parents are religious enough not to use birth control (I’m the youngest of 10 children) and to pick all the kids names out of the bible. My dad was rooting for “Luke” by my mother trumped with John. I’m glad because 1978 would have been a little annoying if my dad had won out.
Never really thought much about my name, it’s pretty generic.
My full name is Tammy Lee. I think I was named after some Doris Day character in a movie or something like that. No clue about my middle name, just random I think. I never really thought much about my name, it served it’s purpose, there were two others with the same name around my age where I grew up so I wasn’t all that unique although I always used to hate the spelling of Lee, my cousin’s name was Leigh and I was always jealous of her spelling.
On-line people pretty much only know me by Tam. If I had a pen name I was thinking about Royale Icing. I kid, I kid. I considered Tabitha Lee. I always wanted to be named Tabitha when I was in high school. Didn’t hurt that my crush used to call me that. LOL But I think if I ever publish anything I’ll stick with Tam and my last name. Too confusing to create an alter-ego.
I’m surprised your Dad went for naming you after your Mom’s old flame. That’s kind of creepy.
I don’t like my first name. It’s so common. I think it was the #1 or #2 name the year I was born. I think because of the song by the Beatles. My mom wasn’t even hip to the Beatles (she thinks their names are John, Paul, Ringo and Mick Jagger). So she named me after the actress Michele Lee, who was on tv when she was in the hospital waiting to deliver me. Middle name is Elliot (family name). So my porn name is Elliot Dallas. Which is awesome.
@Tam I know…I don’t know if my Dad knew it at the time! tee hee
@michelle+M you soooo need to do Elliot Dallas does Dallas…it would be classic