Friday, February 8, 2013

Miller Time Friday: What's In a Name!

Happy Friday! 

If you recall Foreveruary is red drink month.  Last week, I drank a Strawberry Daiquiri at Dani's weekly salon of high spirits and intellect, tonight I think  I will go with a Cosmoplitan.

In case you want to drink along at home:

Cosmopolitan
2 parts lemon vodka
1 part Cointreau
2-3 parts cranberry juice
1. Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice.
2. Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass.
3. Garnish with a slice of lemon.

Yesterday, you heard about how I came to be named Wendy.  Kathy, she of the amazing artwork and insights, suggested that it would be interesting to learn about the provenance of others' names as well. 

I love hearing about how people came to have the name they have.

If I was not a Wendy, I would have been a Heather.  Obviously, my dad won that discussion!  I was the second child, so maybe she was more amenable (or tired!)  My middle name is Elizabeth, and for the longest time I thought my sister and I (her name is Margaret) were named after the Princesses Margaret Rose and Elizabeth.  It seemed very romantic to me!



So do tell - what is the history of your name?  Are you named after a family member, an actress, a place?

And if you are uncomfortable sharing your name, or use a nom de plume for your blogging life, how did you come to choose that particular name?  Or tell us about a name that you love!

On a completely different topic, I am completely addicted now to House of Cards, the Netflix series starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright.  I am just finishing episode 5, trying to watch it slowly to make it last!  It is so good!

Any big plans for the weekend?  I am going to work on my spring shopping list and clear out things from closet that are not working.  I want to have a sense of what I am looking for in NYC - don't want to find myself shopping thoughtlessly, although of course I will leave room to be surprised!

Have a wonderful Friday and stay safe out there!



58 comments:

  1. Love your posts; have been reading, just short on time to comment. But can't miss this one, since we share a name :)

    My Dad is a music lover, so they named me Wendy after songs by the Beach Boys and The Association (had to look up their name, but I still love that song!). Middle name is Rena (pronounced Rennay).

    I especially liked you post on finding a personal style; I definitely have floundered (am floundering?) in that pursuit. The changes my body went through during and after pregnancy really threw me for a loop with clothing/style. Still working on it... I'm so grateful to have found this incredible community as a result of the journey! Have a great weekend!

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    1. Wendy! I love that you were named after "The" Wendy's in the songs by the Beach Boys and the Association! I had an old boyfriend who sang the latter to me all the time!!

      This is a great community, isn't it? I have learned so much from them all about honing my own clothing style as opposed to chasing fashion. I remember after having my second child - it was so hard to get my body back - it eventually came back but it never looked the same! On the other hand, I think that the older I get the better I look - isn;t that funny? Maybe we get used to our looks or can take of ourselves more then when our kids are little. YOu are doing the hardest and most rewarding work there is - caring for a young child. I miss those days! But it is hard sometimes for sure! "And Windy (Wendy) has stormy eyes, that flash at the sounds of lies.." Love this! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. My sister is named Leesa after my maternal grandma. I was suppose to be a Heidi because we were in Germany at the time, dad was in army. At the last minute my dad decided on Teresa to rhyme with Leesa. Blue booby comes from the bird, we went to the Galapagos Islands two years ago. Yes, it is everything they advertise.

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    1. Teresa is such a pretty name! I love that your dad wasnted your names to rhyme! I have always wanted to to the Galapagos - that is on the bucket list for sure!

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    2. whoops! That was "Wanted your names to rhyme!" typing too quickly!

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  3. Abby is my internet name, and it's the name I wanted when I was little. I've always loved my real name, and would never trade it, but somehow I managed to want to be named Abby too. I don't know, kid logic.

    There was this chapter book (remember how little kids call them that?) that I read when I was about eight, and I wish I could remember its name or even its content. I remember that it was compelling and a bit creepy in a beautiful way. And there was a character named Bea. I've always thought there was also an Abby in that book, and that it is where I got the name idea, but now I'm not even sure!

    I had this friend in high school, we were never particularly close and she was a bit of an enigma, emotionally speaking. Anyway, she could be eerily perceptive every once in a while, despite not being so at all the rest of the time. Around grade nine or ten, she, out of the blue, decided to start calling me Abby! It was so odd.

    My real name has a bunch of stories behind it, one of them being that my mom wanted a name that sounds nice in both french and english. One time, when I lived in Montreal, I was making a doctor's appointment. The man scheduling my appointment was so nice, and he said, oh that's my daughter's name! He told me that they chose it because you can say it in french, english, and portuguese and we were both totally tickled that we had similar stories behind the name.

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    1. Hi Abby - how cool that your friend knew you always wanted to be called Abby! You were oviously giving off Abby energy!

      I like names that can be said in multiple lanuages! WHen I was a kid learning french, my french teachers would change Wendy and give me completely different names for the class - one year I was Yvonne. ANother year, Nicole. Go figure. I guess we all had to have french names, but I think it always through me off!

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    2. That must have been so confusing!

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  4. MONIKER Well WMM, your middle name is my first. Almost named after The Queen, E. Alexandra and the pater thought Lexie would work "for such a squirt." But my mum was adamant about Anne, for the books and because I had a cool spinster great aunt called Annie Elizabeth, although everyone called her Bess.
    My earliest memories include rebelling and abandoning Elizabeth for the nicknames (Lizzy, Lizard, Bets...) Have a cousin Andrea who was already the extended family "Ann" so I became E.A.
    Greatest regret is that my mother discontinued four generations of the first girl getting their mother's maiden name as her middle name. (My nan just wrote it on everything anyway.) Greatest challenge growing up in non-English places, Ann-e, so I answered to Anna, Annie, And - teaching them to say Eeee-Aaaay while I absorbed their language.

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    1. THANKS Will get my Cosmo on tonight, cheers! And maybe play Denver Annie's Song - or Annie Get Your Gun, some odd trad duet my dad started spinning when I was young.

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    2. GF how's the snow, is the army roaming the streets? ;)

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    3. Only the Puralator truck and one car out at hush hour. No Forces yet, but hardly any pedestrians either, ghostly.

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    4. Is it snowing super hard? My sister just texted me that the snow is "INSANE."

      Laughing about Dani's question. We'll never ever live that down.

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    5. Thick and constant, even right here in core Abby. About to head out on "early Sunday empty" streets. Less than some of NE US is getting tho'.

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    6. I'm west of the city and it keeps on going, we may already be at 30cm. it is nice to be cozy inside. I hope everyone is staying home today. MrBP trudged through the snow to work, thank goodness our office is only 3 blocks away.

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    7. We are going to get 30 inches! Epic!!

      I have an Eliza-- love all those variations

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    8. Great story E.A.! My daughter and I read the best book when she was growing up "Understood Betsy" - the main character is 9 years old, starts off as an ELizabeth Anne and then ends up as a Betsy. It was quite heartwarming and she loved it! Have you read it? Both of my children have family names for their middle name. My daughter's middle name is Walker - after my great-grandparents who ran away from Oxford England to New Zealand to make a life. Unfortunately, my great-grandfather died young-ish, having not amounted to a lot work-wise (he was a gambler) and my great-grandmother subsequently emigrated to Saint John New Brunswick, where her brother-in-law, an esteemed Minister, was situation (there has got to be a book in that!) and my son's middle name is Turner, after my Father's Grandmother Augusta, who was descended from Longfellow and the rascal younger brother of the first Governor in Plymouth.

      As for snow - stay safe - I hear it is awfully bad! We are still in deep freeze here, but -21 with no wind seems balmy compared to yesterday!

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  5. Wendy this is a fun Miller Time game!
    Of course Dani is short for Danielle, a name I did not care for as a child. I remember being called "Daniel Boone". I always wanted to have the name Rachel.
    Everyone called me Dani anyway, but the reason I was named Danielle was the french origin of the name, my father's family is french going way back and he was determined to give me a french name. My older sister Carolyn was named by our mother.
    It's a SNOW DAY here, everything is closed. That makes Miller Time extra fun because we can start early! ;)
    We've had at least 20cm of snow, maybe more, and it just keeps falling. Has yours started yet?

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    1. Danielle always seemed so romantic to me - was probably all the Danielle Steele I read when I was 12 - I thought THAT was what love was like!

      Yes to starting Miller Time early! They are not calling for our snow till late tonight. Very calm here now, but am sending Barry to liquor store early - one can't be can't with one's pants down, so to speak!

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    2. Dani-I have always loved the name Rachel. It I'd have had a daughter that would have been her name.

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  6. My mom picked my name because she rebelled against her dad.
    He wanted her to to choose something traditional and catholic.
    So my mom picked a name that didnt have a saint patron and was very unusual.
    My grandfather got so upset that he didnt come to my baptism.

    When i was a kid i didnt care for the name,but now i really like it and i love ina garden!

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    1. I think Ina is a beautiful name - it seems so dainty! ANd you know I love Miss Ina! I was making those chicken pot pies I blogged about last summer just last night!

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  7. I guess my name was just very polular the year I was born, my parents thought I would be a boy and they chose that carefully (Gianluca) while the girls name was an afterthought. The funny thing is that I was at a small party two weeks ago and we were three (two girls and a boy, since my name has a masculin too) with the same name and birn the same year!

    We are at Episode 7 of House of Cards, my husband came back yesterday night and we watched two episodes (I had to stop him from watching more to savour it a bit more). I think we will finish it this weekend, with the snow and all!

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    1. Ema, your name is popular in German too, which surprises me!

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    2. BTW. we both thought that Episode 7 wasn't as good as the previous ones, let me know what you think when you get there!

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    3. Ema, is your name pronounced the typical north american way or is their a more italian pronunciation of certain syllables over others?

      I think it is a lovely name too and I am surprised it is so popular in Germany!

      Will let you know what I think - we will do a couple today!

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    4. Italian is a phonetic language, letters have only one sound and you basically pronounce all of what you see. The E is very open in Italian (like in the English "Emma") but people here tend to pronounce it like a i. The letter "U" has a "ou" sound in italian not a "you", that's the main difference in prononciation. When I first arrived I couldn't get people to understand or pronounce it right but it was probably me. More funny is my husband, who is named "Philippe". When he tries to Americanize it and says "Phillip" nobody never gets it because the accent is retracted in English, while it's on the second syllab in French.

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    5. Ok, I should have explained that "Ema" is short for "Emanuela". That's where the u is ;-).

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    6. Okay - no I get it - I head reread your first reply twice and thought I was being thick - wonderful name and now I know just how to pronounce it! I know many Philippes here - That is a lovelier pronunciation in my mind than the english version.

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    7. Oh, I just realized that I misspoke. The name that is popular here is Manuela, "Manu" for short.

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    8. "Here" being Switzerland, I don't know if it's popular in Germany too.

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    9. Sorry Abby - me too! Ina isin Germany, I know you are in Switzerland, I misspoke!

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    10. Still, not very German. A lot of people mistake Emanuela for Manuela, which is more popular (also because of a famous song). My dad calls me Manu, my friends call me Ema.

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  8. I was named Kathryn/Kathy after a girl my mother went to high school with who was considered the prettiest girl and the most popular with boys at their school. She always had such lofty ambitions for me. Even as a child, hearing that story, I found her shallow and idiotic - although I didn't know those actual words at the time, just wasn't impressed - at all.
    I like my name well enough, but still find her reason irritating.
    Maybe I'll have some Campari tonight at Dani's?

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    1. Kathy, after you mush through the snow a nice bracing pick-up will be in order. Always sorry there aren't more people who appreciate Campari's bitter.

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    2. Kathy have put that on Happy Store shopping list!

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    3. Isn't that funny about why she named you? My daughter is Sydney because of the Maritimes and we have both always liked the name! I always loved the name Kathy once I read Wuthering Heights!

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    4. Wendy - Wuthering Heights changed my feeling about my name as well - may watch the Merle Oberon/Laurence Olivier movie tonight. GF - no snow in LA, just a bit of drizzle, but a bracing pick-up is always in order. Dani - I feel Campari is almost a health tonic, and excellent for digestion - love it.

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    5. I know that the movie is not "true" to the book, but my god, I love that movie! I have watched it at least 10 times! Whenever I see your name on this blog I immediately think of heather and mad love! SO much better than a high school popular girl!

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  9. Hi WMM, I'm not aware of any particular reason for my being called Patricia, I think my parents just liked the name. My middle name is Ann. My friends and family call me by one of the nicknames, but I always introduce myself as Patricia in formal situations (doctor, dentist, etc.). I use it for commenting on blogs because when I first started doing so it seemed a kind of odd thing to do and it felt more anonymous to me.
    Snow day here as well, it keeps on coming down.

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    1. Patricia - you have the EXACT same name as my dear old mum - knew I would find another Patricia Ann again!

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    2. It's funny - my husband's mum (who I only met once, on a trip to Canada the year before she died) was also called Patricia Ann!

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  10. If you have not yet had children--xoxo, I'm looking at you--save the list of possible names and who liked which, why certain ones were rejected. My girls still love to think they could have had a different name. We liked Kate, but I wanted a name that would be short for--Kathryn, etc; I liked Katrin, as I am a Scandy, but Mr L had a dopey Katrin in the third grade so no go. We never got a Benjamin.

    Lane=shortened version of actual name and my nickname to some.

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    1. We were tormented naming our son. We had always loved the name Forrest, but when I was pregnant and we had already picked it, Forrest Gump came out. Nothing against Forrest Gump, but I did NOT want anyone to think he was named after that character when it was really because my dad was a forester. In the end, we used it, heard a few comments and then nothing after that and none of his classmates have ever even seen the movie, so there you go! I did laugh as one day the sone of one of my friends asked if Forrest (who was then 6 months old) was "named after the Steven Seagal character in the movie On Deadly Ground!" I said yes. Now if anyone ever asks if he is named after Forrest Gump I use this line instead!

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  11. Oh...I am utterly addicted to...HoC has such a wonderful cast and lovely sense of humour...but I absolutely adorec Ian Richardson in the original and it does keep coming to mind! However, I too am savouring each episode and trying not to be too greedy in one sitting! Oh...and as for names...I always wanted a daughter called Alexandra...but after a Nicholas and a Benjamin...we named our third son Alexander! My parents were both teachers and named my siblings and me according to names of students they had NOT taught (Rebecca, Andrew, and Sarah...all more uncommon then!)...oh, and I was nearly Caroline. Love your blog and would LOVE to make it the Maritimes some day! My mother really loved Halifax!

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    1. As soon as I am done this version I am going to look for the British version - is it markedly different (i.e. plotwise?) I think it would be really hard for your parents - think of all the kids and some of them with the most awful personalities... oy! I love the names of your sons - so regal sounding - no doubt regal in real life!! You really must make it to the Maritimes - such a friendly place. Awfully pretty too!!

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  12. I don't have anything to add to the name game, but am finding it entertaining. I love your posts,WMM! I could use one of those Cosmos right now as I am watching the snow fall outside. Stay warm and dry. I hope the blizzard is not going to cause you any trouble way up north.

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    1. I think it may only brush us - how bad is it in NJ? I was just watching the Boston news and they had this poor little blonde reporter out in the ice storm. You could hear the ice bouncing off her microphone and she looked ready to blow away! It's what they always do to my beloved Anderson Cooper!!!

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    2. I know- I always wonder why we need to see those poor souls enduring awful winds and storms. Schadenfreude I suppose. It is, as AJC said snowing, snowing, snowing, which is infinitely preferable to the ice and slush we had this morning. I don't mind the snow, but hope we don't lose power. 3 storms in 2 years, 1 week each with no power is enough! I really feel for the people north of us and hope they are safe and warm. On a happy note- perfect time to sit knit, and fantasy online shop. Cheers!

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  13. I was named after Anita Ekberg, the Swedish blonde, frolicking in Trevi Fountain scene of Fellini's Dolce Vita. My mother thought she was stunningly beautiful and she loved Fellini. Funny thing is that she always called me 'Ania' (which is Polish for Annie).
    The name was not at all popular in Poland but there was a girl in preschool named Anita that I did not like so when I went to elementary school I introduced myself as 'Annette' and this is the name I was called by everybody besides my family until I met my husband, who liked 'Anita' better.
    I don;t particularly like my name but it is easy to pronounce for everybody, which is great because I have last name that puzzles most people.
    Now I will go pour myself a glass of wine. Cheers!
    Snow is falling and falling...

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    1. Oh - you and knityarns stay warm and cozy indoors! I am wondering how it is for Ema. I think Fred may still be in Hawaii, watching rainbows...

      I love the name Anita. I think your mother must have been a bit of a free spirit, which I love! I LOVE the name Ania! It sounds like you are a character in Dr. Zhivago when you say that - very dramatic! It is funny, when I was a girl, there were a LOT of Kathys, Wendys, Carols, Kims and Nancys. I don;t think I have met a Wendy under the age of 40. I am quite sure not, unless our other Wendy is under 40!

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    2. Snowing hard here too but we are not supposed to get more than one foot, I think. It was nasty when I went to pick up my dauther, small and humid snowflakes that hurt the face in the wind.

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    3. Hey Ema - snowing to beat the band here!

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  14. I have no idea how my name came to be my name. I'm not named for a family member though Julie is not an unusual name it was not popular back in the day. My boys aren't named for anyone either. It would have been nice to have a relative worthy of naming my sons for, but it was not the case on either side of our family. I guess my boys and I each have a fresh start to make our names our own.

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    1. Well then you are all fresh and others may be named after you!

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Kindness is a virtue...