Hello my darlings,
How’s Monday treating you? Well, I trust?
Have you ever wondered about your name? Where it came from and why your dear parents decided to give you your handle?
What made them look at a tiny bald infant with a face like a squashed prune and think ‘Hmm, we’ll call him Miles. He looks like a Miles, doesn’t he, darling?’ Or if they had a baby girl with a shock of black hair and jaundice and a face that resembled a squished raisin they thought ‘Oooh, we’ll call her Pebble. She looks like a Pebble, doesn’t she darling?’ Sometimes I look at a person and you just know that his/her parents had been sipping too much happy juice and simply weren’t thinking when they named him/her.
Take my DH. His name is Hugo. I was introduced to him as Hugo and everyone I knew called him Hugo – I met him at work.
So, we got engaged – the ring was so impressive my hand dragged along the floor (jesting) and in a happy haze I was taken to meet his parents up in the snowy mountains far, far up in the wilds of the North of Scotland. As you can imagine I was nervous. Would they like me? Would they approve? I’m nine years younger; would they think I was too young? What should I wear? Would jeans be too casual? You know all the stuff we always worry about when we’re presented to our future in laws. Before I continue, I just need to make it clear that I am not a stupid person – normally. But nerves sort of got the better of me.
So, anyway, there I was sipping tea with his mother, aunt, uncle, brother and young cousin all staring at me as if I’d just beamed down from Pluto whenever I mentioned Hugo. And they were chattering away in their lovely lilting highland accent, sort of singy songy if you know what I mean. And they kept referring to Kenny and they looked at me as if I knew this Kenny. So I just nodded politely waiting for Kenny to appear. He was obviously an important person and part of the family and this went on for over four hours. I was befuddled, but thought perhaps I’d missed a bit of the conversation and didn’t want to appear thick.
That night I was taken for a baptism of fire to the ‘pub’ (bar) where I happily downed as much booze as his friends could tip down my throat – and they flirted with me too, just say’in. And they kept referring to this person called ‘Shy’ and looking at me as if I knew this person very very well. Since I’d had a couple of drinks or five I turned to this terribly attractive TDH (tall, dark & handsome) pal of my fiancé and said ‘Who’s Shy?’ and he said, ‘Hugo’s Shy.’ I shook my head because if there’s one thing my DH is not, it’s Shy. ‘No, he’s definitely not shy.’ Mr TDH howled with laughter and said, ‘No – that’s his nickname from when he played football.’ I must have looked confused because he added, ‘It’s what we call a throw in from the touch line at football.’ Oookay. I should mention that I met people called Toots, Frog, Panda & Poogie. (!)
As we staggered on our way back to his mother’s house groping holding each other. I said, ‘Who’s Kenny?’ Hugo just looked at me as if I was incredibly stupid (and believe me I was feeling incredibly stupid by this point) and said, ‘That’s me! My second name is Kenneth and they all call me Kenny because my mother’s never liked the name Hugo.’
So I ask you, seriously, why in the name of the Lord would you name a baby Hugo Kenneth and permit his school friends to call him from the age of eight (yes eight) Shy? So his family was totally at sea when I referred to Hugo and I had no bloody idea who Kenny was. And then in the pub not a clue who Shy was. Wouldn’t you be confused? I tell you the people in the far North are a strange bunch.
For many years – it might have had something to do with War & Peace being serialised on TV – I desperately wanted to be called Natasha or Natalie and I wanted to be Russian and come from Vladivostok. But no, I was called Christine from Glasgow, Scotland. In my class at school there were six girls called Christine (common as muck) and they all had various nicknames, Chris, Chrissie, Tina, Christie, Two Chins (terrible isn’t it? Bless her) and I was called ‘wee teen’ because I was titchy small. Actually these days I’m 5’5” – hardly a midget! My life was a living hell, good job I could run fast.
So, what about you lot? Does your name suit you? Do you wish you were called Poppy, Fleur, Nanette, Sorcha or Oriole? Or if you’re a guy would you rather be called Adam, Sandro, Tobias or Fabrizio?
Come on, tell us the truth. Or are you one of those sickening beautiful people who love their name and strut around like a peacock proud as punch?
My comments section in this blog is looking pretty piss poor. So I need a response, even if it’s just a 🙂 and don’t tell anyone but my first book is out today and the Amazon link is to the right.
Until next Monday, be good and if you can’t be good be careful and if you’re not careful I’ll buy you a pram. (Old Scottish farewell usually said to a daughter before she goes out for a night on the tiles.)
Christine
CC MACKENZIE - USA Today Bestselling Author 
This made me laugh! . . . I like Kathryn -the way it’s spelled, the strength of the name. If a character on tv/movies is called Kathryn, they’re usually kick-ass strong women 😀 . . . if they are Kat they are quirky etc etc etc But I don’t like my first name, Mary. Bleah. and put them together? I sound like a nun Mary Kathryn. huhn.
As for comments - I think FB and twitter have taken a big bite out of blog commenting. People will read but not comment, or comment on FB, or whatever. I know I don’t comment on near as many blogs as I used to - but I do receive many in my email, like yours, that I read!
Good heavens,
A person goes to sleep for a few hours and look what happens? Wow! Thank you all so much for stopping by. You do all realise that I’ve locked the doors and you’ll never escape?
LOL! Kat. Ahh yes, Mary Kathryn, is there Irish in your background perchance? There is in mine. Funnily enough I remember shopping in Glasgow with my mother years ago (haven’t lived in Scotland for a long time) and I remember a mother shouting at this filthy little girl with a snotty nose “Kylie Margaret Mary MacDonald, come here at once.” In Scotland, if you’re in trouble every single name is trotted out in public. In this case I suspect the poor child’s parents were fans of Kylie Minogue.
My adoptive mom used to say my entire name when she was mad - lawd!
I have had a hard time tracking down my lineage - there is Scots-Irish, which is really Scots who had to go to Ireland, if I remember my history correctly 😀 - and Blackfoot Indian, and English, and maybe some German - but lots is a mystery!
Both my grandmothers (biomom’s and dad’s mom) were named Mary. My biomom is a Katherine Sue.
I ended up with Mary Kathryn so my biomom could please both grandmothers - boy was that lucky both were named Mary ! *laugh*
Hello Kat,
Yes, there were plenty of Scots who went to Ireland. Also the Irish went to the USA and mainland UK during the potato famine. The Scots were ‘sold’ during the highland clearances which is why you’ll find many black African American/Jamaicans with names like Rutherford etc and they visit Scotland looking for their roots. One of my closest friends is from Texas and the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met in my life. She’s black and her husband is from Jamaica and his great, great, great, great grandfather is from Scotland. He was a slave on the plantations.
Now my great, great, great grandmother was from Sweden! And my DNA shows that part of my ancestors raped and pillaged down the coasts of Britain. Why am I not suprised?
laughing!
Oh, the stories I hear of my biological family in WVA - murder and everything - lawd!
LOL!
I know. Murderers and everything? I bet you can use all that stuff in your writing!
Some of it I used without knowing it was a truth - in the Graces novels — lawd! that was weird 😀
I’m Julie. It’s short and sweet, a bit like me I want to think. It’s a name that can’t be said wrong.
Hello, Julie.
I like Julie. I have a Julie and a Julia who are pals, I sometimes call them Jules or Ju and other names I can’t repeat.
And thank you for commenting!
Hi I am Silvia. I was supposed to be called Montserrat like my mother, auntie(s), grandmother and so on (it’s a very Catalan name, from Catalonia in Spain). Lucky me, my Dad had his say and went for Silvia. Otherwise my new life overseas would have been a nightmare with a name like that. I love your writing, by the way. I will be back sometime soon.
Hey Silvia!
Gosh Montserrat - school might have a tad difficult for you, babe. But you know, Sylvia, Montserrat said in a Spanish accent I suspect sounds terribly sexy and I bet they roll the ‘R’ in a gorgeous way. I love Latins and I love how they speak. Please do come by again and say hello, I don’t bite. Not very often anyway!
Montserrat in a Catalan accent (just another language in Spain) sounds wonderful. But go ask my Australian boyfriend how he would handle the rolling R lol Come by for a visit too! See you soon!
Ahh, an Australian boyfriend!
Now that’s an interesting pairing for a romance! See? A writer never sleeps! And I could say I bet he rolls your ‘Rrr’s very well, but I won’t.
People get named a variety of reasons, even welcome it comes to cartoon [animation] characters. Years ago, when I was much young, in The Flinstones, Wilma, Fred’s wife, was pregnant [was with child] and a contest was held to pick the child’s name, the name which got finally chosen was “Pebbles” — why — she was a chip of the old Flinstone. My name I feel as a nice sound to it-it flows. A name like Jennifer Gayle would of course sound different, and would tend to change impression people would get when they first would hear the name.
BTW - I’ve been always lead to believe that the guys, where the only ones who would be staggering home after a “few” pints, etc -not their women.
Hello Robin,
Thank you for stopping by and since I’ve just met you on Twitter and you asked me stop by your blog and I said I would if you stopped by mine. I like you. Nothing like arm twisting is there? Your name does roll of the tongue, you’re right!
And I’m afraid I’m a cheap date, one glass of wine and I’m very happy if you catch my drift. And it was very cold so when the freezing air hit me I was giggling like a fool.
I do believe I’ve caught your drift.
You can have a $100 a meal with someone who admired, or you can have a meal at Burger King
with someone you care for and who cares for you. Which one would you rather have, for me it would be the later.
Me too!
Well, hell, Christine — way to bury the lead!! Your new book is out today?????!!!!! Woooooo Hooooo!!! Oh, and on the name thing — I’m not Hugo Kenny, but my parents did the same thing to me. My first name was hopelessly old fashioned when I was a girl (Martha - very “in” these days) and my second name, which they always planned to call me and did to the confusion of teachers, government, and bean counters everywhere, was soooooo common there were five of us in my classroom alone. Can’t tell you how many Dianes there are in the world in my age group.
Aaaaand let’s have a drum roll, Diane Capri has visited my blog! Woo Hoo!
I have a lovely gorgeous stunningly beautiful blonde friend with legs up to her armpits called Diana. Every Diane or Diana I meet is always beautiful. And you’re a blonde too. And you have fab cheekbones. Good job you’re both nice people ’cause it would be too easy not to like you 🙂
Yes my book is out and the idea was to sort of slide in the mention and then run and hide behind the sofa and I’m as sick as a parrot with nerves. For months I’ve been tentatively confident until my IT guru said ‘press the button’ and I haven’t slept since.
And I don’t know how to tell you guys, but this is Sunday, not Monday which just goes to show how insane I’ve become!! And you lot are no better, unless of course you were too polite to mention it! LOL!
Here’s the correct link when you click on my name.
Sorry if anyone here had a problem using it. 🙂
Hello Robin,
Back so soon? Worry not and if you guys have a wee minute pop over to Robin’s site she wants feedback.
Fantastic post. You crack me up! Well, I guess I’ll be sickening because I’m quite fond of my name. I’m a Ginger through and through. I’ve never really had a nickname either, if you discount the occasional Ging or Gin. For our 3 kids, I felt the weight of what to name them. I mean, it’s a person’s primary ‘label’.
Hello Ginger,
Yes, your name does roll of the tongue and you were very lucky to meet Mr Calem. One of my daughters once had to speak to someone on the phone - this is the God’s truth by the way - who was called Jack Mycock. In the UK there are four listed. In my humble opinion his parents need put up against a wall and shot. And once I spoke to a man on the phone who’s name was Steve Austin (six million dollar man. I know it shows my age.) and I thought it was a joke. Ahem. He was very good about it, apparently his mother was a fan of Lee Majors and his entire life he’d been asked to leap over cars and buildings. Another lot for the wall, I think. 🙂
Jack Mycock? Holy shit! I’m using that in a book. I can’t resist the temptation!!
I know. Her workmates were rolling on the floor and she kept her cool, that’s my girl! Yea, Ginger honey, feel free, lol! I bet you get loads of people saying ‘nooooo waaaayyy!’ but it is absolutely true. Can you imagine the life the poor man’s had?
What a fun post! I am a person who loves nick-names. Everyone in my family has a nick-name and all the people who are close to me get them eventually. My family nick-name is Emu. Like the bird. My dad made it up, I’m not sure why. I’m also always Em or Emmita. When I was a kid I hated my name. It was an old lady name that no one had heard of. My mother is from England, where Emma is common but when I was growing up in the states, no one knew of it. I always wanted to be a name with a boys’ nick-name like Samantha (Sam) or something like that. Now, I feel like I fit my name and my name fits me and I like it. I never have to use my last name because there are never any other Emmas. Except, of course, for the story of someone’s great-grandmother Emma. 🙂
Aww, I love Emma and always think of Jane Austen and Gwyneth Paltrow - she was brilliant at the accent and the character!
Hmm, nicknames are interesting. My worst enemy at school (we all have them) her last name was Murray and I tortured her by calling her Murray Mint which is still the name of a toffee mint candy in the UK. At the time the TV ads for Murray Mints had one of those irritating jingles that you can’t get out of your head and I sang it constantly to annoy her. She got her own back by siccing the school bully on me. It was worth it!
Now I see why Diane said you buried the lead…you really did! LOL. Congrats on the book!! As for my name, I was ok with my first name, hated the middle name. But yes, I really wish my parents had named me the first name they picked out for me: Dawn Renee. To me, Dawn Renee was exotic and beautiful and all things mysterious and seductive. Melinda was just…odd. And I kept getting called Melissa, which was the name of a girl I couldn’t stand. These days, my friends call me Mel which I actually don’t mind at all. And these days I’ve come to accept my name is actually pretty rare around here and how nice that is. And why didn’t they name me Dawn Renee? Because I was born in the evening….true story.
Hi Mel,
Couldn’t resist! I love Melinda. You look like a Melinda if that makes sense? Let me see if it rolls off my tongue … hmmm … Dawn Renee and that was your dream…. I prefer Melinda and Mel. Good job you weren’t born in a gale - just say’in! 🙂
My last name is Lamb so my dad used to torment me that he’d change my name to Ima, Ura, or Mary Hannah to make me cry.
As far as comments on the blog, you will get more if you give more call to action questions. Questions that we feel we MUST answer-an opinion, advice, to share a story or experience of our own. Normally the blog isn’t the problem. It is just that people are naturally shy or polite and they need clear permission to chime in.
OMG! Woo Hoo and if this isn’t a rite of passage I don’t know what is, Kristen Lamb is commenting on my blog!!!
For those of you confused why I’m sooo delighted. I took Kristen’s We Are Not Alone social media course.https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/
Have I graduated? I hear what you’re saying about comments and you’re right.
Aww, what a naughty dad to do that to you my little lamb. Sorry couldn’t resist.
Hi Christine!
My first name (Monique) suits me. It’s French and a unique 🙂 name! I was born in Canada and my mother is also French-Canadian. Also, I was named after her sister who only lived for 29 days. So, I feel honored that my name that there is meaning behind it that connects me with my Canadian family..
My last name Liddle, (which is English - my Dad and brother were both born in England. We lived there after Canada and before we moved to the States) I don’t like so much! People could never pronounce it or spell it correctly: “Is that Lid-dell?” “No, you spell it with two D’s as in dog!” So one out of two is not bad!
This was a fun post to read. Thanks for the giggle!
Monique Liddle
Hello Monique and welcome,
I love your name and I bet with a French accent it’s even more gorgeous. Nothing you can do about the Liddle but if you marry just make sure he’s got the right moniker. So you’re looking for someone with surnames like Rainone, Gillier, Pattullo, Vivier, something along those lines. Which limits the many fish you might catch in the vast sea of romance. Actually when you fall in love it doesn’t matter what he’s called because once the gloss wears off you’ll call him all sorts of names I can’t possibly print here! 🙂
The folk of the northern climates are very much into the use of nicknames. It’s a habit we all grow up with. Actually, the name my parents saddled me with is (thankfully) lost in time. In an act of sheer defiance I changed it to one I really liked. 🙂
LOL Prudence darling,
What the hell are you like? Quite right and I agree, so I might start calling myself Natasha. I still want to be called that, but then I thought maybe peeps might call me ‘Tash which could be short for mustache :O or Nat which would be quickly changed to Nit. So perhaps I’ll just stay as moi.
Thank you for dropping by you’re the best.
Hi, Christine.
I’m Lynette. I’ve always liked my name, because it was unique (at the time). I didn’t know another Lynette until I was in high school. I was disappointed that it didn’t have a cool nickname. Lyn was too common. And Nettie was definitely NOT cool. Then, while in college, I was babysitting a pre-schooler who couldn’t say Lynette - it came out D’netter. That one stuck with me for a while. 🙂
Christine! I’d say you buried the lead! Woot! Next post - lead with the good stuff! 🙂
Hi Lynette,
LOL! Lead with the good stuff? Are you trying to say that this post is not good? Kidding.
I hear you, I do, but life’s not all about me. It’s about you guys and my readers and what happens in your/their lives that I can connect with and use in the future. The reason I did the post was a conversation I had with Hugo just a couple of nights ago and we were roaring with laughter at the confusion over his monikers and he said ‘you know, that might make a good blog post.’ And he was right!
The journey has been looooong to get to this point as far as writing is concerned. My goal in life is to write a story that makes readers fall in love with the characters, laugh and cry in a good way and think, ‘Yep, that hit the spot.’ A few hours of relief and entertainment from the angst of everyday life. That’s it. If I do that for one person then I’ve achieved my goal. It’s that easy and that hard.
But I have to say I’m laughing at D’netter! Sorry darling, that’s going to stick for a while!
Funny post, Christine! I had one woman tell me her baby’s father’s name was “Bubba” and she knew that because it was on his belt when she climbed on the back of his motorcyle. LOL Let’s just say that in TX, Bubba is a popular nickname. 🙂
I’m okay with Rhonda now. I didn’t like it much as a kid. At least, there’s not a ton of us around so I don’t get confused when someone says my name.
Congrats on your release!!!! I love the cover!. I’m off to get a copy. 🙂
Help me Rhonda, help, help me Rhonda!
The Beach Boys. Yes, I’m singing your name sitting here. And you know I always do when I speak to you. It’s suits you and is definitely ‘you.’ I can’t imagine you as anyone else and the work you do in your day job is simply awesome. I’ve never read posts that can reduce me to an emotional wreck the way you do. In a good way. You’re an amazing woman and I love you to bits.
Hope you enjoy the tale of lurrrvve. My books are not technically linked, but Nico & Bronte have a cameo role in books two, four and five. So although we meet characters again, the books stand alone. I think that’s important to a reader. Nothing worse than serialising something and you never get to read the last one etc. With my urban fantasy/paranormal/ series the VAMPIRES are from the Highlands of Scotland. Love those suckers. The first three first drafts are done and the outlines for the rest are rocking along. Did you guys notice the gold heart at the bottom of the cover? Those denote contemporary romance. The vampire books have a blood red heart so the author name stays the same but the colour will differ as will the cover mood. Four+ years of hard slog to get here.
We’re about to go on a ride and I’m actually scared to death. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Ha! That’s been one of the fun parts of having my name. I get serenaded a lot. LOL My college roommate was Barbara, so when we were together, we’d get a medley of Help Me Rhonda and Barbara Ann. 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind comments. And I love you to bits as well!
Pingback: What’s in a name or our parents tendency to complicate our lifes | My Far Away Places
Well exxcuuuse me! You, the “My comments section in this blog is looking pretty piss poor” queen! Look at all the comments! And Kristen Lamb! Hello! She’s never left a comment on my post thank you very much! Cry me a river why don’t you! LOL! 🙂
You are bloody hilarious Christine! So tell me…could you even lift your ring finger up to show the family “the Ring?” Or was it just too heavy? LOL! I was just having “a cuppa” with the family. Of course you were! You’re British! But what is with the name Hugo? Oh. My. God! I just spit out my lunch! Sitting there for five hours not knowing about this so called Kenneth. Oh excuse me, Kenny. LOL Christine! You must have wanted to hide under the area rug! Good lord how I just wanted to be there. Fly on the wall! And then to top it off, an evening with the friends. I’m sorry, I cannot top this story. I will admit, that my life is a boring disaster! I’ve never thought of another name. Although it seemed that there was at least three or four Karens in each of my grade school classes. Very confusing at the time. Now today, I don’t run into that many Karens. Which makes me feel unique. And oh God am I unique. I’m just not sure that that’s a good thing? LOL!
Okay, must run. Well not run actually. Take care Christine! And yes, a big Congratulations on your new book release! Where’s the promo on Facebook? I didn’t notice it. Go pimp yourself girl! This is a big deal! {{{Hugs!}}}
Karen, thank you for the comment lurve, lol!
I know, I can’t believe Kristen stopped by either, it’s like having a visit from the Queen.
Ha, the ring’s a joke and it was stolen during a burglary years later. But has since been replaced with something that doesn’t fracture my wrist (joking!). I actually felt like a lemon sitting there waiting for ‘Kenny’. Ahh, those were the days! And trust me, Karen, you are most definitely unique!
No pimping on here.
I like my name (which is Scottish by the way, Christine…ahem). But it’s not how my parents wanted it spelt. Apparently I was named after Lynsey De Paul, the singer/songwriter. Instead the registrar spelt it ‘Lindsay’, which is not only the boy’s way of spelling it but also the more traditional way of spelling Lindsay as a surname. I am basically a scottish bloke with a surname for a christian name. Lovely. But if it’s good enough for Lindsay Lohan…
When I was growing up, in fact for the entirely of my childhood, teenage years and early twenties, I was known on my dad’s side of the family (and there were a lot of them!) as Lou. Louise. Loulabelle. Basically, I was nicknamed Loopy Lou. I must point out that NOWHERE on my birth certificate is Louise mentioned. My nan, to her dying day, only ever knew me as Lou. My middle name is Joanne. Go figure.
On a more sincere not (though all the above, I promise, is true), I have the J. in my writing name because my dad always called me by my middle name. I was always Jo to him and he was the only one who referred to me as that. I lost him to cancer a few years ago. It’s my little ode to him.
Being married, Pryor I got from my wonderful husband who I love to bits. So yep, I like my name.
Lindsay J. Pryor 🙂
Hi Lindsay,
Congrats on launching your blog! Exciting times ahead for you, missus.
And thank you for commenting! It’s great to hear from you.
And massive congratulations and tonnes of hugs of luck on the book release today. Yay, you!!!! xx
LOL OMG, what Karen McFarland said! So maybe the secret to getting comments is to say we don’t get them? Or maybe we just have to ask. 🙂 Anyway, I did not like my name when I was little, so everyone called me Jenny. Only problem with that, as any other Jennys know, is how many of us there are! Especially in the US, born in the 60s! And then I had an epiphany about it when I was in high school, getting ready to go into college: Almost all those other Jennys were Jennifer! And I realized then that I liked my name. Even with its weird spelling!
You know the response to this has been so interesting. Just goes to show that when you’re naming a baby, take care!
I love Jennette. In the UK it’s Jeanette and of course that throws up lots of different variations of the theme. Jean, Jen, Jenny, Netta etc. Here, Jenny tends to be the short form of Jennifer.
Thank you for stopping by, Jennette!
My dad insisted my name be spelled Alica not Alicia like everyone else. I got into many arguments with teachers as a small child and while I still spell my name Alica I stopped correcting people a long time ago unless it’s an offical form. When my children were born I agonized over their names, looking up the meanings and making lsits. I was determined to pick a non-violent name for my son- so we named him Logan (a woodland elf) Reece ( a small fern filled glade) and yet my son has spent his whole childhood playing with weapons and his goal is to become a special forces medic. So my lovely hippy name didn’t help. Oh well.
LOL!
That’s really interesting, Alica! One of my friends never permitted her son to play with toy weapons. So I howled with laughter when he made a gun out of big Lego blocks and he’s ended up in the army. Whereas I’ve been happy to let mine go for it and he’s a gentle soul! Parenthood is a mystery.
So my dad wanted to name me Maureen and my mom liked the name Karen-so they compromised (?) and chose Coleen. And my mom wanted to be different and dropped one of the Ls. Which was annoying when I was a kid, but great when I went to buy my domain name. 🙂
You’re definitely Coleen, Coleen!
Great parents who knew how to compromise, I like that!
Nope, I don’t like my name either! Well, mostly because no one spells it properly. Then there’s my middle name. My dozy registration teacher at old Dunfermline High saw my middle name on the register, had no idea how to pronounce my first name, so I was Elizabeth Duffy for four years! Very embarassing when you’re class mates took to calling you Lizzie all the time :o)
Congratulations on your release day! xx
Aimee!
Helloooooo!
Thank you for stopping by. Now I love your name. In fact, your name and the spelling of it is one of the names I’ve short listed on my ‘name’ file for my heroines! So if I use it I’ll be sure to let you know. My middle name is Elizabeth too. What is it with Elizabeth and the Scots? Is it something to do with the Queen? It’s a mystery.
Thank you for your good wishes. Can I just tell all you guys who’re reading this that Aimee has her foot in the door of a publisher? No pressure! Just remember me when you’re famous!
Aw thanks, would love to read a story with a heroin called Aimee :o)
I don’t know whats with all the Elizabeths. My aunt, both grans and two cousines are called Liz in some variation. Definitely must be a Scots thing! :o)
Hmm, just finished the outline the ed has asked me to put together, and its away to my cp. Fingers crossed she likes it.
You’ll be famous before me, you already have a book on Amazon! Reckless Nights in Rome is on my ‘to read’ list for next month. Can’t wait!
xx
*heroine *cousins. I can spell, honest 🙂 must be because it’s Monday…
Worry not! Great to see you here! 🙂
Fantastic post, Christine, and I am LOVING these comments! My writing name, Lena, is one that I chose for myself. It’s really special to me because it was my great-great grandmother’s name, and I wanted to pick something that honored the maternal side of my family (I chose Corazon for a last name because it resonates with my father’s side of the family). But my given name is Jamila, which is Arabic for “beautiful,” and I really do love it, even though people seem completely unable to pronounce it (it’s got a long ‘e’ sound — Jameela, if you want to be spell phonetically). I get my share of nicknames, though ‘Jaye’ and ‘Jamz’ are the ones that get used the most these days.
When I was growing up, I always hated that I didn’t get a “real” middle name (my sister and I were both given my mom’s maiden name, Jamison, as a middle name, which is in keeping with my father’s Filipino traditions). These days, though, I like the combination, because it feels unique. 😀
Aha! I love Jamila (eee) and it’s Arabic? Right, I’ll put that in my Freebie Friday Desert Sheik story. Just need to find a character for it!
My middle name’s Elizabeth (common as muck as well in the UK, something to do with the Queen.) Still hanker after Natasha.
Thank you so much for stopping by, Lena! 🙂
Ha ha ha! What a great delivery Christine! And I mirror Karen’s thoughts. Look at all these fabulous comments! Woo hoo! I don’t think I need to point out the terribly common name I have. My last name was Johnson growing up. I got tons of Debbie does jokes. It wasn’t any fun. They get old fast. Don’t get me started on my middle name. We still haven’t made amends. LOL
What’s the matter with Debra? Did you get loads of Debbie does Dallas jokes? Did you punch them out? Want me to hold them down for you? I’m from Glasgow - no messing with me!
Thank you for stopping by. I’m still stunned that something like names has hit a nerve. Wish I could do it every sodding week! And the story with the mother-in-law and family is gospel. We were laughing about it on Friday night which is how it ended up here! Just goes to show! Now we’ll be trawling the rusty memory banks for more!
Congrats on the new book launch!
Apparently your blog doesn’t appeal to men or men are afraid to display their insecurities. It took me fifty years to come to terms with my first name and still having trouble with it at times. I used the nom de plume Rowan Jefferies for awhile just to avoid the wonky first name. My middle name doesn’t even feel like it belongs to me unless I do something for which my mom would have yelled at me. As a child I gained the moniker Red for my ginger hair (& Rojo from a friend’s Mexican grandfather), until someone’s mom thought her son called me Red Rover then I hated that worse than my own name.
Jeffery darling, you are more than welcome on my blog any time.
Are you saying I’m a scary woman? According to Hugo you might be right, lol!
What’s wrong with Jeffery? We have a very good buddy in Australia called Jeff and he’s gorgeous. And I like Carl. Hmm, peeps with red hair do have a hard time until they get older and it turns that fabulous auburn colour. Red Rover is a low blow btw I hope you inflicted mucho pain until he was singing soprano.
Thank you very much for stopping by and please do feel free - and tell your buddies - to chip in at any time. It adds a much needed dimension to the blog!
I wasn’t implying anything of the sort…just stating an observation. 😉 No, never hurt the guy, he was my unicycle buddy. He was the only one in town with a six footer and I couldn’t go without riding it on occasion. If I tried it today i would break a hip or worse.
Oops, and thank you for the congrats! It’s taken years off my life! 🙂
Great post! I’ve had name problems with boyfriends where their friends and family also call them different names. It’s so confusing. It made for a charming tale in your hands. 🙂
I’ve always felt like a Kourtney. A Kour to my closest friends. a Kourt to some. Even K. My mom has dozens of nicknames for me which perplexes my friends. 🙂
LOL! Kourtney’s a beautiful name, it sort of rolls off the tongue. I bet your Mom does have plenty of nicknames for you - I’ve plenty of other names for my kids too - most of which are not printable in a public forum!!
Great to hear from you!
Great rreading your blog post