What's In A Name?

The mention of Matt the Gnat in an earlier post got me to thinking about names.

The importance we place on them, the assumptions we make about them and the influence they have on our lives.

I was born Roberts, a name I wasn't to use for long as my parents divorced when I was very young.

My sister (I have 3) was called Julia, she reverted to the name Roberts only a couple of years before the advent of Pretty Woman. That's a hell of a name to try and live up to and frankly, she didn't waste too much time trying.

My Mother remarried fairly swiftly and my surname became Shears.

It was the BANE of my life!!! Not only did it seem impossible for many to spell (I've been called Smears, Steers and even on one memorable occasion ARREARS!!!) but, it was also ammunition!

I was brought up in a small village near the sea, not much going on and we took our fun where we could find it. One particular woman (we called HER Smelly Nelly) used to think it oh, soooo amusing, when she saw my sister and I together to refer to us as a 'pair of shears'.

Another sister was in a serious relationship for a while, all seemed to be jogging along quite nicely when suddenly, after a proposal of marriage, she broke it off.

The reason? 'Well 'she said, 'I gave it some serious thought and decided, there was no way I was spending the rest of my life being called Claire Dwyer'!!

You have to wonder at some parents though, do they not think before deciding on a name? Or do they have an evil chuckle to themselves as they sign away their offspring's future happiness in a stroke of a pen?

My ex worked with a man called Christopher, shortened as it often is to Chris. In itself, that wasn't a problem but when it was linked to the surname Peacock, well, that's just plain mean!

hey Chris

I worked for a while with a girl called Carrie. A lovely girl, very unassuming and pleasant.

One day Carrie came into the office and announced that she had decided to double barrel her first name with her middle name and so she became Carrie-Ann.

Nobody really gave it a great deal of thought at first but, all became clear when she got married a few months later.

Her husband to be had the surname HISCOCK!!! (now that's not included in the marriage vows!)

I haven't saddled my offspring with strange, weird or embarrassing names but at the same time, I didn't really give much thought to their initials.

Thus Master Macs initials are JAM and Miss Mac is LGM! They don't seem to hate me for it at the moment but we are reaching the teen years so no doubt I have provided them with some fodder for the future.

Possibly my favourite Name of all belongs to ex lax's (my ex husband) ex who, when she married decided to double barrel her name as many do and so she went from being Miss D White to Mrs D White-Cummings -

For REALZ!!