I have come to accept the fact that I am a name snob. Sometimes I feel bad about this, but most of the time I just feel superior. I think you have to have this kind of attitude when you name a child Agnes and get a lot of blank stares in response. I have always felt good about my own name. Actually, I feel more than good about my given name, I feel great about it! It is interesting to think about how I have shaped my name and how it has shaped me.
When presented with the daunting task of naming our first child we faced many of the same dilemmas of most first time baby namers. We were obviously not completely clear on the popularity of the name Henry. Especially in the year 2001. Not that it was in the top 10, but I hear it a bit more often that I am comfortable with. David does not completely agree with this, but I think that is because he is a David and I am a Phoebe. I can count on both hands the number of Phoebes that I have met in my life. Although, with it's rising popularity I am sure that will change. And I am happy with it's rising popularity, such a good name deserves a little attention, don't you think? Anyway, I digress.
When Henry started 1st grade his teacher asked the kids to fill out a form. These new readers and writers filled out the form; name, age, nickname... This is where we ran into problems. Henry has never really had a formal nickname. We affectionately refer to his as Henner or Hankster, but he never seemed to want a nickname. Or so I thought. He carefully filled out his form and next to nickname he wrote... HEN.
HEN?
What?
Who?
At first we decided to disregard it. Who is going to call him Hen? We talked to Henry about other options for the name Henry. More specifically, that when we named him we thought that if we ever chose a nickname it would be Hal - Hal, a nice nickname, in honor of one of my favorite people Henry B. Eyring. Conveniently, Hal also goes really well with Cal. But all of this discussion and urging fell on deaf ears. So then I reassured myself that Hen would never catch on. Wrong again! Henry happily announced to us that now there is a first grader named Henry (before there was only our Henry and one other, older Henry). Fortunately for our son, the other kid goes by Henry and he, of course, goes by Hen- bypassing any confusion that might occur.
Our dear HAL just started second grade, the first day as he walked through the halls we heard friends, teachers, even PARENTS (those traitors!) call out friendly hellos to HEN, our son, the chicken.
11 comments:
hahahaha. Hen. I have momo so what can I say about nicknames!
I just like Henry!!
But I will call him whatever he wants.
Reminds of the friends who named their daughter Kimberly Victoria Marie - because they were afraid people would call her Vickie.
You got it - everyone calls her Kim!!
Phoebe I have the same laments! Because Elizabeth is a common name, and my Elizabeth did not want to be known as Elizabeth W, she has now chosen to go by Beth at school.
Beth. Sounds foreign and distant to me but that is the name at the top of every page of homework and teachers and parents yell hello to her at school saying Beth. Alex and I cringe every time.
Why not Liz or Lizzy or Eliza? I typically refer to her as Lizbeth, eliminating some vowels. We asked her how she would like to be known at home and she wants Elizabeth but will we ever be able to live this Beth thing down?
This made me think harder about all of my daughters' mutli syllabic names. Could I be facing the horrible reality of a Carol instead of a Caroline? Or worse - Carrie? Oh the thought!
**** I would like to make a formal apology to all of Phoebe's readers named Beth, Carol or Carrie **** Which are all fine names, just not the ones I chose for my girls.
Thanks for participating in the writing assignment Phoebe. Tell Hen Hi for me.
I think there are worse nicknames than Hen. Like Hannie, for example, although I never chose that one for myself.
Hannie is awful. Rhymes with Fannie, it's the name of Karen Brewster's best friend in Babysitter's Club Little Sister series... there's just nothing good about it. One girl called me that in high school and I've never been able to forgive her for it.
So don't cross me.
Hen sounds kind of hip, and you have to be cool to pull it off. So lucky for Henry!
(PS. Selfishly I hope the name Phoebe does NOT gain in popularity because by the time I have a daughter and have the opportunity to name her Phoebe as I've always wanted, there will be a million Phoebes and she'll no longer be unique. I may have to reconsider my plan. :-( )
Growing up as Desiree or more commonly, Desi I too only knew a handful of people with my name. I didn't like it when I was younger, but now I love it.
People already try and shorten Devyn's name to Devy and I hate it. I try and "politely" remind them that her name is Devyn not Devy.
what happened to hanky panky?
maybe you should push that one.
I really don't like it when names are shortened (unless of course the parents choose to, and maybe the kid too).
As far as I know my kids names have not been shortened into nicknames. I am worried about the youngest though. That was one of my biggest worries about her name. I don't want anyone to call her Kim. Or Kimmy. (No insult intended to any Kims or Kimmy's out there.)
What's up Hen?
Yeah, sounds weird.
How about Henri? A little culture for the first grade.
People are often surprised when I say Theo's name is Theo, not Theodore. We considered Theodore, but ultimately, we wanted him to be Theo, not Ted, so plain old Theo it is. Other options include Thelonius, Theophilus, and Theobald but all of the longer versions of Theo sound rather too grand when paired with our last name. (And of those I really only like Thelonius.)
Some people call me "Lize," which I'm not a fan of. Also "Liza" comes up now and then, which doesn't bother me. Fortunately I never had any other Elizas in my classes so I didn't have to deal with the nickname thing too often. I was called Ferteliza for awhile, that wasn't a favorite either.
Not first grade, I meant second grade.
Names, names and more names. Even now I hear names and wish that we had more children to use such great names. I never had a nickname except Charlie called me "Al". IT never caught on (thank goodness) and I have been Alice ever since. Here in Bolivia I go by Alicia (not a nickname, just easier for people here to remember. I had never met another Alice until we were posted in Kyiv. It must be an old fashioned name since you don't hear it now either.
We had an Erika and a Madeleine that both became poplular after we named them. The perils of being ahead of one's time.
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