Mestee Blogger

What's in a name?

I've had a few conversations regarding names in the past few weeks, so I've become curious. One such exchange was with Jen(n) Hufton, who is in the middle of a transition from Jenn to Jen. This is not by choice, but merely because many people refuse to acknowledge the extra "N", though it does appear in "Jennifer". Her brother Jeremy, on the other hand, has been known to abandon his name completely. This happens mostly when ordering food from a pizza place or when he has to leave his name for a host at a restaurant. His preferred false name? Jim. Irfan will also give a false name on occasion, though this seems far more reasonable to me, since many people in our country have never heard his name or know how to spell it. It is not unusual to go to a sub shop with Hufton and Irf, hear the guy behind the counter yell "Jim and Mike, your sandwiches are ready", and Jeremy and Irfan approach the counter to get their food. I was baffled the first few times this happened.

Does the spelling of a name really matter? I like being Brian, but I wonder if I'm just bias because that's how I spell it (or maybe I'm just resentful of Bryan Adams). I know an Amy that is jealous of an Aimee and an Ann that wonders what life would be like as an Anne.

Do you judge people because of their names? Do you think that Starlight Grasshopper Moonfrye must have had hippie parents, or that Thurston Lillingham III is a blue-blooded conservative?

There is always the nickname issue. I'm not talking about nicknames like "Larry Legend", "The Bus" or "Broadway Joe", but rather different versions of your given name that you go by on a daily basis. John-Jacob is Jack. James is Jim. Elizabeth is Liz, Beth, or maybe even Liza. When this topic came up, Jen(n) Hufton mentioned her friend's father is named Lloyd, but everyone calls him Rick. It totally makes sense to me that someone would give their kid a name, but call him by a shortened or less formal version of that name. This brings me to the other name conversation I had recently, which dealt with people named Richard who had opted for "Dick". Of course, this topic always leads to anecdotes of every "Dick" you know with an unfortunate nickname: Brace, Brain, Swett...the list goes on and on. How did Richard become Dick and Robert become Bob and Lawrence become Larry? I'm afraid this entry has provided more questions than answers.

Also, read this. Or this. But not both.
|