Friday 3 April 2009

What's in a name

For the purposes of this post, substitute * for a. I am trying to be smarter then google and make sure people thinking "Whatever happened to B*rb*r*" don't find me via here. I mean, it wouldn't be quite the way I'd choose to reconnect with say, that girl I used to scoop icecream with when I was at uni (not for fun - it was a job).

So

My name is B*rb*r* N*nce.

I didn't change it when I got married. We had great intentions of hyphening but never seemed to get around to it. Maya had both of our names though.

I've never really liked B*rb*r* as a name for me. I can't seem to work it right. I've tried exploiting the barbie doll aspect - having long blonde hair and all - but let's face it, I'm way too practical, don't look good in pink, and I'm A cup. I kind of tried to work with the retro aspect of  the name, taking on some type of 50's rockerbilly feel, but that's not really me either. I thought Babs had a gangster moll feel until everyone started making Yentl jokes. 

I much prefer my middle name. Ellen. Loyal, true, strong, a touch of sweet. It suits me to a T. Only no-one has ever called me that and the few lame attempts to get it going as a working name fell on their bottoms. So B*rb*r* it is. It's one of those things I've learnt to live with.

Both my name and personality lend themselves to nicknames and I've had many over the years. Here's a few of the ones that stuck (depending on who I'm hanging out with)

Barb, Barbs, Bubs, Barbie, Babs, Barbara Nellie, Barbara Cow (my parents had a pet cow called Barbara before I was born! Yes, she got et.)Bra 'n' pants, Bra, Pants, Barbalicious, Blah-Blah, Blah, and weirdly, Bubbling Parabola.

I have also spent my working career with people with disability. I can officially let you know that 98% of my friends with Down Syndrome (and I know 100's of people with DS) can't say my name. They either say Bahbah, or Brahbrah. So I'm pretty good at answering to that too.

And this is all a long and tiring introduction to a new song about me. Enjoy.

Leave a comment and tell me about your nicknames.




11 comments:

Lori Lavender Luz said...

Well, Ms Parabola, you have made me sputter water at my screen.

Those guys crack me up!

Anonymous said...

Whatever DID happen to barbara?! hahaha, just kidding. Must admit, ms parabola cracked me up.

I too had hypenation visions of being a (I know its a mouthful) M*h*p*tr*-White (using your code) and in fact my ex-college in IL still sends me material addressed to mrs m-w. its awesome. a couple of days before the wedding day though, M threw a bit of a macho tantrum and started spouting some crap about not keeping my maiden name because my family disowned me blah blah blah... "you'll run out of letters on forms" - it kinda made sense to stick with one last name. :) new beginning and all that happy horseshit - although I didn't feel any different!

My current nicknames are S (I like), Sha (pronounced shah), Shaz, shazza, whitey (totally have to be VERY CLOSE TO ME for this one, given I'm a brownie), frag queen (my best nickname, except its open to 'drag queen'), frag monkey ... one nickname I absolutely HATE from my back home in India days is Shalu-bhalu. The shalu itself is very, very, very common, its a very usual Indian way to shorten shalini. but bhalu means bear, in an affectionate way I think. but when you're a big girl like me... you dont take kindly to being called a bear!! (glare!).

my most useless nickname is "baby" - my parents call/ed me this.

Anonymous said...

"you dont take kindly to being called a bear!! (glare!). " well, hellfire. I's a poet.

Michele said...

Michele is actually my middle name. Very few people call me by my first, which really doesn't fit me. Peter and a small group call me Mia, but my parents still call me Chele at times.

Me said...

"too tall"
"jolly green giant"
"waldette"
"T"

I haven't been called any of the first three since high school. And I obviously never liked any of them. Random people call me "T" still. Clients even sometimes in emails or even in person. I guess maybe they don't want to look up how to spell my full name? Or can't remember how to pronounce it? I actually do like my name: T*in*. And it is phonetically correct so I don't understand all the confusion!

Phoebe said...

Too f-ing funny!

One of my nicknames was T-bell. It started out with my brothers calling me retarded. Then it evolved to tredo girl then just t-girl. For many years, I was called T-girl by my family, and they all forgot what it meant, but me. Then, there was this famous football player who played for the Pittsburg Steelers, I think, and his nickname was T-bell. So that stuck.

Kami said...

Funny.

Before Brad, I don't think I had many nicknames. Mostly just "Kam" and "Mule Deer" and "Bambi". The latter two because I kicked a lot while I slept when I was a baby. My mom still calls me Bambi and I don't even know what a mule deer is.

Now Brad has more than a few for me and they are all sweet.

I also kept my maiden name. Our children have Brad's last name and not mine. I am ok with that and Brad is semi-ok with me not taking his last name.

MrsSpock said...

I worked with people with disabilities for years, and they all seemed to pronounce my name as Bah-Bah too, even though it is Jennifer. It's also been pronounced as Jemmica, which I loved.

Nicknames: Jen-Jen, Gumby, Shribbet

I myself kept my maiden name as my middle name. I tried to convince Mr S to make up a new last name that we would both share, but there was no way in hell he would.

Pamela T. said...

Dad calls me: Pambo
DH calls me: Pammie; Pammie Jeanne; and Pamdemonium
Sisters call me: Scammie
Childhood chum: 'Ela
Bloggie friends: PJ
A little guy whom I once babysat for couldn't say Pam so he called me "P"

My sister, whose name is the same as yours, I call her Bert -- she was Bert to my Ernie, I suppose.

B said...

So right shalini - sometimes I Do think "whatever happened to Barbara?" shazza - can't get much more oz can ya. But I think it is quite cute that you are called whitey.

see ya soon chele , mule deer, T, T-bell and Jemmica

jess said...

Hi B, ;)

I followed you over from Mrs. Spit's place. Your prayer for her made my heart hurt.

I''ve been Jess, Ca-ca (when my sibs were too little to pronounce Jessica :), Lil' Jess, Deb, Jess-Deb, JD, Sica (my sister's nickname for me- so flattering), and Ms. Ribble (when i was 2. My parents think they're hilarious. I beg to differ.)