A Vanessa by any other name....

Yad Vashem Hall of Names (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was told that I was named after the daughter of one of my uncle's girlfriends. A little girl named Vanessa who said turnips taste like gasoline. Glamorous, isn't it? I have never been much of a fan of my name, but what can you do about it? Legally changing it is an option I suppose, but it's expensive and names are gifts given by our parents. There is thought, so much of it usually, that goes into naming a child. I don't think I could just toss that kind of gift away.

In the past few years it just got shortened to Nessa, which suits me at this time in my life. Still me, just a little different as I find myself. Nessa is way better than some of the nicknames I've had growing up. Nessie Monster, Nessie Bo - this one I still get sometimes-, Bocephus, and the dreaded Baby Boo... yeah, no I can't even write it. That last one my Daddy called me and my standard response has been "I hate that name!" for 34 years. Those are mostly family nicknames. Friends have dubbed me Nessalene, Snotty Nessa - I think that came from a weird name generator, but it stuck for years-, and a few interesting others have come from friends. The people I love are the best.

When it came to naming my own children, it was a process both times. The Boy was named Cassie Michelle because we were told he was a girl. We called him that for months. His actual name involves Legends of the Fall, his Dad's childhood mentor, and his Dad's middle name/name of my best guy friend from high school. When we told people he had two middle names people gave us the LOOK. You know, the "are you stupid" look. I have always though his name is amazing and wouldn't change it if I had the chance. Little Miss, we talked names for months, mostly because we didn't believe it when we were told she was a girl. I can't remember the boy name we had picked for her, but she was Megan Danielle until we were driving to the hospital to have her. It was very spur of the moment. Still, she is her, I can't imagine either of them as anyone else.

Do names make us who we are? With a nickname like Snotty Nessa I really hope not! How were you named? How did you name your kids? what sort of nicknames do you have? I know I'm not the only bad one with a name story floating around.