Names I could have been...

[sistermagpie]

Happy birthday idlerat!!

This popped into my head on the way home the other day...does anybody else know what name they would have been called if they were the opposite sex, and if you do,

Do you think about it?

I asked my roommate--she would have been called Eric. She also knew her alternate girl name, Yvonne. Apparently she and her sisters were all potential Eric/Yvonnes, but all were girls and none looked like an Yvonne (also Mom couldn't decide on the correct pronunciation). Personally, I think one of her sisters could have been an Yvonne, on her and the other one it would be purely quirky.

But it was more interesting looking at her and imagining her alternate boy self, Eric. (Her father was also partial to Thor, and I've got to say she dodged a bullet there. Ethnic heritage aside...whoa. That's a lot to live up to.) The weird thing is, I can kind of see it--the Eric, that is, not the Thor. Now I can look at her and somehow imagine this boy version called Eric.

The one alternate girl name my mother once mentioned for me was Miranda, Mandy (not Randy) for short. I can't really see it--my roommate said (and I agree) she could see more as Amanda than Miranda. I was friends with a Miranda growing up. We called her neither Mandy nor Randy, but Mirn (sometimes Mirnie). So when I think of my name being Miranda, it's more like an odd thing, rather than a name I could have had.

If I was a boy I would have been Mark. I asked my mother this probably when I was a kid and it always stayed in my head. Mark somehow holds out all these tantalizing possibilities, you know? Maybe I still would have been friends with my roommate and we'd have been Eric and Mark. (Although maybe not, as we first met in college and Mark and Eric wouldn't have gone to Smith...)

Mark. It's not a name that really means anything to me beyond this. I had one in my class growing up about which I have no strong feelings. He played the saxophone. On the one hand the idea that this would have been my name had the chromosomes worked out just a little bit differently is a big deal. On the other hand...it's not. It's not my name, it's got no connection to me. But it does!

Anybody else ever ask your parents this question? I know adela711 had a name change soon after she was born. My father still calls my cousin Matthew because "he was supposed to be called that" even though the man's been Jeffrey for over 30 years. At the same time, I know why he does it. Because while he looks like a Jeff he could be a Matthew, you know? It does fit him. So as much as I want to just laugh at my father for doing this, there's this ghostly Matthew in my head too--and I wasn't even around when his name was being planned. I heard it once and thought, yes, that works.

So Brother Magpie would have been Mark. What would he have been like? Any one else ever think about this? Especially slashers? Is it more of a girl thing to ask this question and wonder about it, or do guys tend to know about this too?

Comments

[desultory6.livejournal.com]

I would have been Grant. It's my mothers maiden name. I was called Spikey before I was born which amuses me to no end.

[scriva.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. I can imagine that the name might be more common in Austria and Switzerland than in Germany.

[guza.livejournal.com]

Really like this entry. :)) have read all the comments.

My boy name was going to be Luka. My alternative girl name was Lara. I really like those names, but I like my own too. :))

[silvery-wraith.livejournal.com]

I would have been Leon, or Lee for short. It would have been after my grand-father, who'd died some 30 years prior. I really, really like that, even when I was born a girl, my parents still incorporated 'Lee' into my name.

[silvery-wraith.livejournal.com]

Aw, my cousins call me 'luka'. I really like that name, but I think you have to *look* like a Luka to pull it off.

[guza.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! What do you think a Luka looks like? :))

I've never really been able to visualise what people should look like with certain names. I think anyone can suit any name. (well, apart from the gimicky ones like Britney or Candy or something...)

'i don't like ross.' 'wow, what a weird way to kick me when i'm down'

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

LOL. I don't actually mind Ross most of the time. He's annoying, but he does kind of remind me of myself. (I like the one where Phoebe's pretending her cat is her mom, and he's like '...WTF? No.')
Can't say I like the name very much, though.

[winningstreak.livejournal.com]

It's better than the mountains.

[anehan]

I had never thought about this before, so I had to text my mother. I'd have been Julius, which amuses me greatly. It seems to me that my parents have done their utmost best to give us all uncommon names, and they have succeeded quite well.

I was really surprised when I found out a few months ago that there was another person in my home town with the same first and last names as I have, because although my last name is not exactly rare around here, I knew only one other person called Helka before. Had I been named Severiina like my parents at first planned, I'd probably have gone through my life without meeting anyone with the same name.

The year I was born, 10 girls were name Helka in Finland and only one girl was named Severiina. 68 boys were named Julius.

[anehan]

Neither is it uncommon in Finland. The pronounciation is different, though, I think.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

It isn't just boys who have a hard time dropping the 'y/ie'. My poor cousin, Barbara, and everyone in her house, know it's me when I call. She will *always* be 'Barbie Jo'.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

I would have been Thomas Sloane Williams. For years, I thought that was after my father's brother, who died when he was young. Sloane was after the brother. I don't know where they got 'Thomas'.

Which would have broken with tradition. The eldest boy was always named after the surname. My father was a William Williams. So was his father, though my dad got the middle initial of 'J' (he later turned it into 'James').

I was named 'Karen'. It was a popular name in the 50s. My mother loved it since she could remember. So must a lot of other women who were born in the 20s. I can tell you that I am not a Karen. They're perky, outgoing, potential cheerleaders, and every one I've ever met play the piano. I changed my name to Ceridwen, which suits me much better.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

You'd think someone should be able to parlay that skill into money, but it's never been done...

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

LOL! The best part of the story is your brother being named something else. Parents are indeed a mystery...

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Spikey! I love it! I knew a woman who also referred to her child as Spike before she was born. Then she became Emily.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Luka! I really like that name a lot. It reminds me of the moon, without being Luna.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I like that too. It's cool to be able to point back to a family name, or even just a story for why you're named after something (unless it's embarassing).

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I LOVE the name Julius! I like Julian too, but Julius is just full of character. Especially because it reminds me of that book--I don't know if you know it, Julius, the Baby of the World.

I really like Helka--it's very different from Severiina. Though you can't not think about the extra meaning of Severiina in HP fandom.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Thomas Sloane Williams--that's a fine, upstanding name, isn't it! My own grandfather wound up having this whole strange thing with his name when he tried to get a passport or something. Turned out he wasn't named what he thought he was named. So although my father is a Thomas Henry, Jr. his own father was not actually named Thomas. Or Henry. Great-grandmother was a bit of a flake is I think the idea here...

Ceridwen is awesome.:-)

[anehan]

Especially because it reminds me of that book--I don't know if you know it, Julius, the Baby of the World.

No, I've never heard of it.

I really like Helka--it's very different from Severiina.

It really is, but I can sort of see myself as Severiina. Julius too, come to think of it.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

My aunts were twins, and named after their two grandmothers. When the younger of the two went to get married, she found out she had no legal name at all. They had left her (second twin) Williams! So she had the bcert amended to what she'd been called all along anyway. At that time, only one out of a multiple birth needed to be named for the county records.

Re: 'i don't like ross.' 'wow, what a weird way to kick me when i'm down'

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

You just mentioned one of my favorite Ross moments. That episode drives me crazy--wtf? Ross is right! Why should somebody miss their pet cat because Phoebe's putting on a weird show. I couldn't believe he was supposed to apologize for that.

I swear, everytime Ross was actally right on that show was the only times anybody ever had trouble with him. The other thing that drives me crazy is when everybody's all loving to his ex-wife and her awful girlfriend and trying to get him to go to the wedding--wtf??

Re: 'i don't like ross.' 'wow, what a weird way to kick me when i'm down'

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

And now you're making me think of my favorite Ross moments--I love the one where he teaches the class and nervously adopts this horrendous English accent.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

How do you pronounce it?

[trazzie.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting question, I've never thought about it. At least not for my name. My daughter (and she knows this) would have been Daniel Paul, and my son would have been Crystal Elaine (I am now extremely thankful he's a boy) :P