It’s All in the Name or Is It?

In most cases, when one is born, a name has either been a long thought out process by the baby’s parents; one passed down through generations; given in honor of someone special; or perhaps just a name they liked; and in some instances, the name is thought to be “fun and creative”-- a play on words! I’m a teacher, and have seen these children’s records come through the office, and the reactions on people’s faces when they read the name- out loud. For fun one day, we all listed on a white board some of the oddest names we have come across, either heard or actually saw, here's just a taste of what we had on the list:(make sure you pronounce them correctly) Lemonjello & Orangejello—that should have been LeMongelo & OrRangelo!  Jubal Lee, Aphroditie & Adonnis, Belle Pepper, Batman Bin Suparman, just to name a few. Honestly, why not just send the child to school with a target drawn on their shirt??

These situations can sometimes make or break a kid. Especially as they enter school, and have to “explain” their name or correct it as the teacher tries, but verbally assaults it. Hence, the beginnings of a nick name to avoid the humiliation of the other children knowing. Although, I have a friend, who was actually given the name “Baby Girl” on her birth certificate—I think her parents thought a name would just come to them when she was born, but having two other children still in diapers at the time, they were a bit exhausted, and so they decided to think of one later. But in order to leave the hospital she had to have something on her Birth Certificate, so she was named by the hospital- Baby Girl! And her college friends were not so kind, once we knew this information. :) But by then, she had learned to live with it, and had a pretty good sense of humor about it. Now-a-days, you must leave the hospital with a name, anything. However, if this is the case, the person can always change it later to a name they prefer. Hey that’s what Prince, the singer/songwriter, did—he became—a symbol, consequently an unpronounceable symbol, and is now “Formerly known as Prince”! Come on, seriously, do you really think he actually thought that out long and hard??

Even though your given name can be changed, if you choose to do so, everyone comes with a last name--the generational lineage of who we really are-- where we come from, and who we descended from. It gives us a stronghold of heritage and culture, a link to our fore fathers. And for some--a bullying target! For those who were fortunate enough NOT to have a “unique” surname, let me give you a taste of what it was like growing up with the last name Fell. My maiden name, the name my step-mom, sister-in-laws, nieces and nephews now share, is a first grade spelling word, so how bad could that be? Besides having to always say, “F like in Frank-E-L-L” when on the phone, because inevitably they think you said “Sell”, or there are the phonetically challenged ones who spell it Felt or Feld or Phell. But then there is the comedic sides of having a last name like this-- if I had a penny for every time I heard someone say, “Nancy Fell—did she hurt herself”?  AND then laugh, as if they were the first one to say it, I would be rich!!! Oh that wasn’t all, not only did we hear that all the time, you would see things written next to our name like…”Fell down and go boom”. (like the samples in the pictures of my corresponding friends) Oh, and I loved the ones when I was dating, friends would suggest finding a man with the last name “Apart” or “Off” or “Over” or classic “Down” and hyphen my new name to be Nancy Fell-_____!  haha I have to admit it made me have a sense of humor about it all, that I learned to just add to it. Since my middle initial is “R”, in college I convinced everyone to believe my mom’s maiden name was Reeley, and since she picked my first name, my dad got to pick my middle name, so he decided to go with my mom’s maiden name, which meant I was Nancy Reeley Fell—they bought it, now who’s laughing??? So you CAN make the best of a unique situation. Although some of these name games may be too much, and we would be back on the “You named your child what?” bandwagon. You know like, if my grandmother got her way and convinced my parents to name the twins-- Jack and Jill Fell or to name one of us Grace or Tripp! Phew that was a close one---so it is safe to say, we don’t have any like that in our family......yet!

On that note, I dedicate this Blog to the man who blessed me with my REAL (no pun intended) middle name of Renėe, my Dad; who has had to live with the Fell jokes a lot longer than any of us has, and who I learned from to take what you have and make the best of it! As much as it was a bulls-eye for jokes and teasing—it was one I am proud to have and been part of, whatever European lineage we come from. However, so much for the heritage or genealogy of a name—we have never been completely clear on where the name “Fell” actually came from. The irony to having a name that “means something about your past” is, we probably are just descendants from a clumsy Englishman.