What’s in a name?
Posted by Dory @ Lucky Dorito on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
I love to make up nicknames for things and people. Inanimate objects are just an likely to get a silly name as the people in my life. Do not ask me why… I can’t explain. Might it stem from having a mother that named things? (I remember cars being named – she once drove a “Herbie”….but I sure don’t remember it being the “Love Bug”)
When I was pregnant with each of my three children, I worked hard to find the perfect name. Something NOT to mainstream so it wouldn’t be heard on every third child you met in the store. But not something totally archaic or old fashioned. And, I can honestly say that I failed miserably on that note! All three of my children’s’ names became popular at some point in time, not long after they were born! Ohhh! …. I know… maybe that means I was on the “cutting edge”!!! Yeah for me! Ha… now, seriously, if you know ME, you know that was just plain dumb luck!
My oldest daughter is named Brittany – at a time when there were no other Brittanys! She was born in Naples Italy in 1985, where we lived when her Dad was in the Navy. By the time we returned to the States a few years later – I’ll never forget being in some grocery store shopping and overhearing another mother call out to her unruly child “BRITTANY – GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE NOW!”
I was shocked to
1) hear her yell
2) hear her yell at MY child and
3) hear her yell the word BUTT out loud in a store! LOL (which seems comical now that I say “butt-ugly” all the darn time!
Of course, I momentarily stood there with my mouth hanging open, looking at MY Brittany sitting in the shopping buggy, wondering WHY she was yelling at Brittany – then I rounded the corner to see the loud-mouthed frazzled woman grab some other little girl by the shirt just mere seconds before she knocked over an entire end cap display! That’s the moment I realized “Brittany” was not an uncommon name after all!
Seriously though, it probably didn’t matter much because as much as I loved the name “Brittany” I hardly ever used it when she was young. I began calling her “Suki”, which was some crazy derivative of “Sweetie” that evolved into “Suki” over time. She used to fuss at me for saying it in public as she grew older. By the time she got to be about 10 or so, she’d outgrown calling her Suki and I was back to calling her by her given name more often. But, when I look at pictures of her as a youngster – I think “There’s my Suki” in my mind!
She’s 22 now – wouldn’t she die if she saw that pic on here? He He He
I’ll share the crazy way my little brain nicknamed all the others in my life later!
Filed in Kids,Me,Weirdness in my world | No dorito bits yet
