Saturday, February 8, 2014

What's in a name?

While you couldn't tell by looking at me, I love fashion.  Even though I usually look like I just got back from the beach or I'm thinking about going in a minute (even though right now I live 700 miles away from the closest beach).  Even though I have never worn an evening gown and don't plan on it.  Even though I have a wonky foot and most beautiful shoes are a thing of the past for me.

I read a lot of fashion blogs, and one I really like is Garance's.  (I don't read it in French, my French is limited to ordering a bottle of wine.)  Today she is talking about a beautiful girl with a beautiful name and it got me to thinking about names.  If a girl is named Langley Fox Hemingway is she destined to be beautiful?  Or do you think that is a name she made up?

If I had had a daughter, I always thought I'd name her Lark.  I thought it fit a girl who was light on her feet, delicate and liked poetry; she would always be looking at the sky and dreaming.  As she grew, it fit a woman who was light and cheery but could stand on her own two feet and take care of herself.

How I got my name is a favorite family story and I'm thankful to my mom for overruling my dad and saving me from a lifetime of rhyming name jokes.  I wonder if he had won and I had been named Nanette Babette (seriously), would I still be me, wearing flip flops and dressed for the beach no matter what the weather, always wanting to be outdoors digging in the dirt and growing things, firing up the barbeque even when it's raining or snowing and would I still be in my element wearing work boots and an orange vest yelling at concrete truck drivers on construction sites?

I wonder.

5 comments:

  1. I think Lark is a beautiful name! (And thank goodness you didn't end up as Nanette Babette -- that's just a bit much!) I think your name does somewhat shape your life experience, but that your personality is stronger than your name, and that you would have probably ended up with a nickname that suited you better if you had a name that just didn't fit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. NANETTE BABBETTE?! OMFG! that would have been horrible!

    i think names mean a lot. so many are generic. some are cruel. but a beautiful name lasts a lifetime and can only help.

    i used to work with a chick that had cats. she named a black cat satan and told me how evil it was. kind of a chicken and egg thing, but why tempt fate and give something a nasty name?!

    ReplyDelete
  3. p.s. lark is a beautiful name!

    ReplyDelete
  4. off topic, but THANK YOU for providing your perspective in the comment you left. i love to hear the opinions of others, particularly those that are wiser than me! :)

    ReplyDelete