Monday, January 14, 2013

What's in a Name?



Carla at All of Me…Now is hosting a series of questions for moms, the first question is about your name. How did you get your name? Did you always love it? Have you ever wanted to change it?

The first question is easy to answer. I asked my mom how I got my name and it was simple, it was from a list of girl names. The second question is a bit more complicated. Did I always love it? Not really, it is kind of long (seven letters).

I think the thing that irked me most was that there was no shortened version of my name. Every single person in my family (EVERYONE) had a name that had a nickname attached to it and I didn’t. Now, my dad called me Squirt and my uncle called me Skunky, but that wasn’t a version of my name. Really, how do you get a nickname out of Heather? Heath? That doesn’t count, it’s just lazy.

There was a point where I was mad about the no nickname and living with New England accents that I decided that if I didn’t have a nickname, I was going to spell my name the way people pronounced it, H-E-A-T-H-A. (That didn’t last) I was stuck with it, and don’t get me started on my middle name (I couldn’t wait to get to the Social Security Office after I got married and drop that one.) Then there was a point when I would tell people all sorts of fake names (especially clubbing, my favorite was Louise) then I would see them again and they would call me that and I would have no idea what they were talking about (I think they thought I was crazy).

I remember when I was in high school and the lady I used to babysit for was having another baby, she had a book of baby names that had society’s perception of names. I looked up my name and you know what it said? Commonly referred to as less than intelligent (or something along those lines) and then there was a semicolon and in print written right there…bimbo. So when people in society hear my name, a vision of a bimbo pops in their head, fantastic. So for shits and giggles I looked up my sister’s name (not her real name, her nickname) and it said basically the same thing.  Well aren’t we lucky.

11 comments:

  1. I am the exact opposite. I would have been thrilled with the name Heather. My name is Christine, but everyone growing up called me Crissy. When Three's Company was so popular. So I guess you and I have the same connotation to our names. :)

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  2. OMG this cracked me up! I mean, right? My name is a boy's name in reality.... oh parents!

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  3. Heatha - love it! I had the opposite. Growing up in RI with a name that ends in "A" everyone would add an "er" to the end. So I was always "Jessicer" ;)

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  4. How about I nickname you 'Cool H'? hehe

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  5. HAHA! Sorry, but you totally made me laugh. I can hear the New England accent loud and clear. Thanks for sharing. :)

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  6. I want to call you 'Heatha' from now on! One of my other friends is called 'Heathen' - does that go along with 'Bimbo'? P.S. I think the name Heather is beautiful, your post just made me laugh!

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  7. Oh my gosh, your post cracked me up! I have a friend named Heather who really does go by "Heatha." Writes it that way and everything.

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  8. I had to laugh!
    I told a guy my name was Emily once. We just had drinks. A year later he chased me down (while I was walking with my then bf), screaming "EMILY!". It's still one of my favorite stories... sadly, I didn't put that in my blog post about my name. Darn!

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  9. Cute post! I should do a name post too! Love all these!

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