March 10, 2008

• Namely…

  This morning I read two blogs dealing with names. Antisoccermom’s dealt with the choosing of her xanga name. Ed Kaz tells of his feelings for his name, Edmund.
  So, I thought I will blog about some of the different names in my family. My biological father’s name was Faw. It was given to my brother and subsequently to my nephew. My Dad’s name is Denzil, as is another brother’s, although he goes by J.R. not “Junior”. I had an Uncle Orpha (pronounced Orphie) and he was married to Aunt Myrle. I have a cousin named Denver who is also married to a Merle and he also had a brother, Denzil. My Granny was Ines (rhymes with Highness) and Grandpa was Cecil.
  When Mom and Dad were deciding on a name for my new baby sister, they wanted a name that would not be likely to earn a nickname. They settled on Belinda. She kept that name for only a matter of months. One day our next door neighbor came in the house and cooed to my fussy little sister sitting in a carrier seat on the table, “Hello Charlie” and she has been known by that moniker since.
  I was sick one January in the late 80′s. I had been throwing up, sometimes 15 times a day, since October. I had undergone testing and the docs were unable to say what it was. They were able to tell me I wasn’t pregnant after 3 blood tests. In January, my sister and I decided to take a “last” sisters’ trip and went to Nashville. We were both country music fans and this seemed like a great thing to do. Driving to Nashville, I made my sister stop at every restroom along the way. When we got into town, the first thing we did was buy a home pregnancy kit. The second thing we did was go to a bar. I drank less than half a drink and promptly fell off the barstool dead-ass drunk! The next morning I peed on the stick and found out I really was pregnant and NOT dying. (and I was an Obstetrical Nurse at the time.)
  At the time the “father” was not in the picture. He was a bit of a player. Charlie was my support person, and before we called my parents with the happy news we talked about names for the baby. I knew that his/her middle name would be Lee. Dad and two brothers have that esteemed middle name and William Lee Golden of the Oak Ridge Boys is one of my favorites. Hailey and Jared were first names I had chosen.
  The “father” decided to “do the right thing” and just weeks before the delivery came back into the picture. He asked if we could name our newborn son Roger after his uncle. I acquiesced even though I didn’t particularly like the name. My mother said it would grow on me and it was a good strong name. I figured I could find a suitable nickname for my precious little son. But, seriously? All I could think of was Roger Ramjet, a cartoon fromthe 60′s; or Roger Rabbit, the animated movie which had come out that year. I remembered a Roger in school whose girlfriend lovingly called him Roger Dodger. I decided Dodge would be a nice, cute name.
  Turns out, as usual, Mom was right and Roger grew on me. Especially after I met my husband and he used the name all the time. The “father” had taken a u-turn out of the situation.
  I still call my son Dodge, but mostly it is Roger. He has taken on a new name, though. When he hit high school, his friends started referring to him by our last name. He wears it proudly in honor of his Dad, my husband.
  I thought it was curious as I was preparing to write this entry, I googled Roger Ramjet and it referred to his sidekicks, Yank, Doodle, Dan and Dee. My Roger was born on the 4th of July. Strange, but true.

  • 11:25 am
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