It’s the first of the month, which means it’s blog exchange time again. This month’s theme is What’s in a Name? Please welcome this month’s guest blogger, Amy from Chicken and Cheese! And don’t forget to check out my post over at her blog!
I never liked my name. Call my name in a crowded mall and you’ll see at least five heads swivel. My name is so common among my age group that I was “Amy H.” until I went to college. While this allowed me to frequently skip a particular class in high school – the teacher always blamed it on Amy I. – I felt I deserved a more unique moniker.
I grew up and grew into my name. It wasn’t just my name, it was my byline — of which I was very proud. I worked hard to achieve my dream, and here it was. A byline! My name! In the newspaper! On a story! That I wrote!
Years later my Plain-Jane Name begat my husband, Channing. He relishes his unusual handle, and it suits him perfectly. He could not be an Albert, or a Harold, or even a Tom or Jim. He is, without a doubt, a Channing.
So when it came time to choose a name for our baby we both understood how daunting a task was at hand. She would carry this label for life. It would, to a great extent, define her in the eyes of others. Let’s be honest – how many people would hire a woman whose resume announced her as “Peachez?”
We had a list. We bought a book. We love traditional names like Genevieve, Evangeline, and Madeleine. Beautiful as they are, we feared they were too trendy. After months of debate, we narrowed it down to two – Matilda and Emmeline.
Both names got mixed reviews, but we didn’t care. I leaned toward Matilda (a family name) while Channing lobbied hard for Emmeline.
Sitting in the doctor’s office after our first ultrasound, we debated again. I caved. Channing won.
Today we have Emmie. She is Emmie, Emmeline, The Poo, the Poodaloo, the Poodalee, Emmie P., Bubbaloo, Baby Girl, Sweetheart and Lovey.
She carries the name of Britain’s leading suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst. She carries my maiden name in honor of my father. Her name is suitable for Chief Justice, an architect, an engineer, a novelist, or a mommy.
And when she grows up we’ll tell her we almost named her Matilda. She’ll look at us and wrinkle her nose. “Matilda?” she’ll say. “I’m glad I’m Emmie.”
I’m glad, too.
– Amy is a SAHM to her high-energy toddler and a freelance writer. She is soon to be transplanted from her upstate NY home to the Midwest, where she plans to learn 1,000 recipes for corn.
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This post is part of a June Blog Exchange on the theme “What’s in a Name?” Click here to read more. And, if you’d like to participate, email Kristen at kmei26 at yahoo.com.
Emmeline gets the Suebobian stamp of approval. Not common, not weird. Just right. Aren’t you glad? LOL. Because I have been known to make fun.
I love that name! Good choice.
Hi Amy,
I must say, I am glad you chose Emmeline. It is a beautiful name.I am sure that when she is in school,and is called by name, no other heads will be turning!
I love how you thought about how Emmie could be a chief justice, a novelist, a mommy. It’s such an important job to be in charge of, naming a new life. Sounds like you picked the right one!
I like Emmie! It’s so damn hard choosing names. There are so many reasons not to choose a name, like that girl in third grade who used to pull your hair and the mean guy from high school who dissed you. You can’t name your child any of those names. And you want to be original too. Well, I say go with the traditional. Oh who the heck am I kidding. My daughter’s name is Julianna.
I like Emmeline. I know what you mean about having the same name as every other kid in the class. I didn’t, but I sure knew a boatload of Jennifers and Amys and Michelles. All beautiful names, but I can imagine that they got tired of tacking their last initial onto their first names.
Nice name! As I mentioned after Christina’s post on your site, we are in negotiations for our new baby’s name (she’s due tomorrow), but this time around we can’t agree. The first time we pretty much had it tacked down, we just wanted to wait and see her first – and then my hubby went home and sent out an e-mail with the name without 100% finalizing it with me first! Sheesh. ha ha!
This time I’ve let him know he will NOT be doing that, and I’ve sort of taken control of naming the baby. But we’ll see how it goes. We each have a favorite but her middle name is already decided. My sis-in-law says there’s no law stating that a kid can only have a first and middle name, so we should just use them both, but I don’t think I want to do that. We’ll see what she looks like and then decide.
My main problem with my hubby’s first choice of name, BTW, even though I think it’s cute, is that it is too common. I truly believe that by the time our kids are in school, said name will be their generation’s near equivalent of Amy in our generation. It’s also – CUTE. Possibly *not* fitting for a Chief Justice or such. I suppose it would work okay for an Olympic athlete, though. Hmm. ha ha!
That’s a beautiful name and has such an interesting significance in your lives. I’d hire her in a second. And if she were to make a mistake at any point, I’d blame it on Matilda.
Such a sweet name. I’m glad you chose it too. 🙂
100 recipes for corn, eh? I got some. 🙂
Great post here by Amy from someone who grew up as a Jennifer and we all took variations early on. That’s how I became Jenna. I graduated with EIGHT Jennifers. In a class of 106. Dang.
Emmeline is a gorgeous name! And I love the nickname “Emmie” for a little girl.
Hehe, you have great taste. On their CFA Papers, my two oldest cats (sorry, but they are MY babies) are Mathilda and Emmaline 🙂
My name is Amy too, though I can’t say I ever disliked it. In fact, although it was a very popular name in 1969, it wasn’t until highschool that I found myself one of three Amys. That ended up working out for me too, as my friends gave me a nickname that sticks to this day.
I’m more a fan of the normal name, although I do love the less popular ones. Matilda and Emmeline are great choices.
My cats name is Emmy. which I now regret because I really love it and can never name one of our future children, because we’d all know we had a cat named Emmy once. When I had my baby I though about Emily, but you can’t have a baby Emily and a cat Emmy.
Emmeline is beautiful! Good choice!
There’s a professor at Harvard that does research into what affect names have on us…(he’s tenured and old and can do whatever the hell he pleases…lol), and he sort of snarked at me when I told him my daughter’s name. But he can kiss me arse….the only name is really seemed to deem perfect for a girl was Hannah. Whatever!
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The name is so girly! I love it!!