Kelly has been quite adamant this past month that her name should be changed from Kelly Wallen to Kelly Eleanor. And to be honest, I kind of agree. A) I love the name Eleanor. B) Kelly Eleanor flows beautifully like Sara Felice, and C) The only reason it didn’t come to mind when she was born is because I worked with someone named Kelly Ellinore (first and last), and therefore, I didn’t think of Kelly Eleanor (first and middle). Or maybe it was because after a 75 lb weight gain and 2 years of not sleeping through the night, I had lost my bloody mind. Yep…let’s go with that.
Kelly is named for my grandparents who played a large role in raising me. As they are named Ira Estel and Donna Lou, you can see why I chose to use their last name instead. As well, it gives Kelly the same initials as her Granddaddy, whom she endlessly adores. But Kelly hasn’t warmed to being named for great-grandparents, even after I promised to change my middle name to Wallen.
Would I drop my middle name? Absolutely! I was named for the Beatles song, Michelle, which beats the hell out of the name my parents had chosen for me. If you say I look like a Matthew Bryce, I’ll smack you. So who cares if I become Eleanor Rigsby instead of Michelle my Belle? IT’S THE SAME BAND.
A few weeks ago as I looked over the Kindergarten work hanging proudly in the hallway at school, my eyes quickly caught sight of Kelly’s signature line. There, in huge letters, spelled correctly and printed beautifully (grading on a 5 year old bell curve, so let’s use this phrase loosely, shall we?) were the words, “KELLY ELEANOR”. I think if you can spell it, you can have it.
What does Greg think of our latest jazzy plan to change both of our middle names to match? He thinks he might be drowning in a house full of drama and estrogen, so who the hell cares what we do with our names? Maybe women change their names like they change their shoes? He doesn’t know, he’s not sure he should have an opinion, and if we need him, he’ll be working in the garage. That’s where the men-folk go when the women are putting on eyeshadow. What’s impressive is that he communicated this entire paragraph with simply one eye roll. You gotta give men this: they are succinct.
So maybe we’ll just keep it as an add-on for now. Introducing Kelly Eleanor Wallen, daughter of Lori Eleanor Anastasia Krupnik Michelle. I mean, if we’re finally be honest about names we wish we had…
So tell me, if you could have named yourself, what would it be?
5 responses so far ↓
1 V // Jan 23, 2013 at 9:47 am
I am laughing so hard right now. Last time Kelly was over to hang out with Elyse, they came down stairs to let me know Eleanor the puppy has the same name as Kelly’s middle name.
2 Karin W // Jan 24, 2013 at 10:46 am
I’d go with a name that’s spelled the common way! Really, Mom – you picked 2 names with “off” spellings for your oldest child and COMPLAIN that I can’t spell?? Pot/Kettle much?
So, Karin Elisabeth would be something entirely different and classic – I’d probably pick Katherine although that comes with it’s own spelling problems (“Karin” is a Scandinavian diminutive of Katherine – it’s analogous to “Katie”).
My husband has probably the most common boy name combo on the planet: Christopher Michael. Both the spelling problems and the fact that there were at least 2 other people in his class named “Chris” at any one time, our children have classic names that are hard to misspell and we also tried to pick names that aren’t the most popular out there (we failed 2/3 times on this and both girls have names that are in the top 10 of their birth year). However, being that uncommon spellings are now popular, my kids still have to spell out their names for people… grr!
3 Chris // Jan 24, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Well, my story involves my easily mispronounced maiden name, Kauchak. Yes, the first syllable is similar to the animal that moos and eats grass and the second syllable sounds similar to what happens on the other end of the animal after it eats said grass.
My saving graces are that 1) I have at least 30 cousins with the same last name (my paternal grandparents were good Catholics in every sense of the word) and I married into the far simpler surname of Moon.
My sons used to complain about the nicknames that people would come up with for them and I have no sympathy. Having a last name like Kauchak toughened me up.
Love your analysis of Greg’s reaction. We tease my dad that God does indeed have a sense of humor because He gave my father hormonally crazed daughters to go with his wife. We think that’s why he liked to hunt during turkey season, two deer seasons (rifel and muzzle loader) fish for salmon and smelt . . . Thanks for my laugh today!
4 Chris // Jan 24, 2013 at 12:36 pm
That would be FOUR hormonally crazed daughters. Oh yeah – dad thought for certain that there was a boy in there somewhere.
5 The Momma // Jan 24, 2013 at 5:50 pm
Warning: Kelly is in a particularly stink-ish mood today and announced her “new, but sincerely last” middle name shall be Abigail. Kelly Abigail. I put my foot down and told I have fallen in love with her “sincerely next to last new middle name” and I’m not budging. On her fake name. We’re losing our minds, I’m sure of it.