(Crabby-Pants Thursday)
Decades and decades before it was trendy, my older sister was named after my great-grandfather Ashley Rozelle Wilson, farmer and store owner in Mangum, Oklahoma, brief acquaintance of Jesse James, and descendent of James Wilson, signer of both the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and who would annoy my great-grandmother Lucy by letting the Indian chief sleep in the house when the tribe traveled through. (I heard complaints of bear grease on the sheets.)
This all sounds warmly familial, barring the time my mother
Martha (yes, we tended to pass names along) brought her newborn daughter to
meet him. Apparently he was also a vain man who refused to admit that a girl
was carrying his name. His remark: “That’s a fine looking boy you have there,
Martha.”
And I remember my father’s fireworks in 1950-something when
my sister decided to start writing her name as Ashleigh. Let’s just say it was
a very brief flirtation with alternate spelling.
This all came back to me when I was driving around the other
day and read a few of the proud graduation signs posted on area lawns. You
know, “A Graduate of so-and-so High lives here” with the name written below.
I could only sigh at the parents who 18 years before had to
complicate a perfectly lovely name like ‘Emily’ with ‘Emeleigh’.
As the grandmother of our delightful Maya, I harrumphed audibly
when I saw that this batch of nincompoops had posted a sign for their child ‘Mya.’
And don't get me started on British grammar - I am forever complaining at the t.v. or radio as someone murders the English language!
ReplyDeleteAs a former English teacher, I feel your pain.
DeleteSome of the names people inflict on their children strike me as close to child abuse. Celebrities are often culprits.
ReplyDeleteOh, I hear you! Still in the teaching game and I don't know why parents do what they do when they name their children. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteThere were so many. . . . .but I had one for instance, named Money. But pronounced like the artist.
DeleteI guess they want their child to stand out from the others, but I'll bet most of them hate it.
ReplyDeleteDinah -- now THERE's a name you never see anymore.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Steve!
DeleteFun story about your ancestor. Name changing for attention and uniqueness was popular in the 1960's/70s, too, but by the people holding the names. I have a friend named Salli (originally Sally) and one name Jodee (originally Jodie). I wonder what their parents thought when they changed their names?
ReplyDelete