names

[starling823]

Ooooooh names!  One of my favorite subjects...I'm fascinated by them.
But I just feel the need to share a story with everyone, The Tale of 
Parents Sick Of Nosy Friends.

When my mom and dad found out they were pregnant with my youngest 
siblings -- (twins), they were flooded with "well meaning" people who 
wanted to know if they'd picked out names.  Now, my sister and I have 
very nice names, I think:  Abigail Heather and Rebecca Lynn.  Most of 
their friends didn't agree, (what unusual names!, they said) and up 
until our baptisms proceeded to complain and make all sorts of 
suggestions.  So my parents went on the offensive.  Any and all 
comers were informed that the twins were to be named "Ignaz" (boy) 
and "Prunella" (girl).  I remember them having a great deal of fun 
picking out the two nastiest names in the baby name book.  Noone was 
really sure what to make of that, so they'd just leave mom and dad 
alone.  And when the *real* names -- Emily Maureen and Andrew Logan - 
were announced, everyone was too relieved to nitpick any further!  
I'm not usually amused by my parents, but that display of cleverness 
usually gets me to giggle.

As for my favorite names -- if I do have children, my daughter will 
be Imogen.  Met someone in Scotland with that name, and it's 
beautiful.  No clue for boys.  Probably James, for my granddad.  
Definately not Ignaz. :-)

But the worst thing about names is nickname potential.  Thru school, 
I was "Gabby Abby" and "Flabby Abby" for years.  My best bud in 
kindergarden called me "Abigirl" and that stuck all through 
elementary school.  In high school I became "Abs."  Then one of the 
class clowns decided in 10th grade English that I was "Abs of 
Steel."  I didn't think it could get any worse...until I learned 
that "Abi" in Latin means "Go away."  So my senior year was narrated 
by my Latin class giggling about "Abi, Abbie!".  And everyone on this 
list now has spectacular blackmail potential on me. <g>

Abbie, who was almost named Sally.