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The First Name

Su-sieee! is how the mama calls for me. When she urgently wants me, she puts a long emphasis on the second syllable. If I don't answer in two or three beats, she calls again. Su-sieeeeeeeeeeee!

So, dear readers, in case you were wondering, that is why I italicize the second syllable of my name.

The mama had not planned to name me Susie. She had another name in mind for me.  But, the mama was foiled by her accent and the nurse who was assigned to get my name from the mama.

"What is your baby's name?" asked the nurse.

"Tessie," said the mama.

"Susie?" the nurse asked.

"No," the mama replied. "Tessie."

"Susie?"

"Tessie."

"Susie?"

"Tessie."

"Susie?"

The mama gave up. "Yes, Susie."

That's the story the mama tells me. After all these years, I'm still thankful the nurse couldn't understand her.

Today's Christmas song is "Thank God It's Christmas,"  performed by Queen. Enjoy the song and have a wonderful day!

Comments

  1. Thanks for the good word. I thought it was something like that. Same thing happened with with one of daughters.... I had wanted to name her Leeza but it came out Lisa... and she's eternally grateful for the bookkeeping mistake. (I still like Leeza) :)

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  2. I had to laugh--for two reasons. First, my sister's name is Susan. When I was little I couldn't pronounce it; the best I could do was Susu. So for many years, she was Susu to me. Sometimes I still call her that.

    Second, about being grateful that the intended name didn't stick...I wanted to name my daughter Galen. For reasons too complicated to explain now, I ended up naming her Mia. She is eternally grateful. When I wanted to tease her, I would threaten to take her to the courthouse and change her name to Galen. We had a lot of fun with that!

    But the name Galen was not lost. I took it as my pen name. Perhaps it was meant for me all along.

    Thanks for a great post.

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  3. Ah, poor The Mama. She tried so hard to get it across. ;)

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  4. Reminds me of the stories I've heard about the waves of immigrants from non-english speaking countries whose names were forever changed as they entered their new countries by the immigration officials of the day.

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  5. that is absolutely hysterical:) not even that long ago i was wondering what the genesis for your blog title/name was. so cool.

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  6. Manzi, I bet you're saying "Leeza" as you talk to your Lisa. :-)

    Galen, that's one of the great things about being writers. We have so many opportunities to pick names for characters and for ourselves. :-)

    Alice, I'm thinking now that she probably wasn't too sold on "Tessie." The mama is very stubborn and lionessy when she wants her way. LOL.

    widdershins, I knew a guy whose father took the name of the typewriter for his surname because the immigrant official couldn't get his real one. It's both a funny and sad story.

    Ed, the blog title came from an outing of collecting chestnuts. One to be told another day. :-)

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Thanks for the good cheer. :-)

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