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

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Kaitlin-interesting. Isn't Dylan Thomas sort of unique name-wise as well? I seem to remember reading somewhere that he's the one who started the use of that pronounciation.

Dana and Rene(e?)--also cool. I have heard both of those used for men but you're right, nowadays they're both usually girl names. I like the name Jan for a guy too--it's a form of John, isn't it? I figure most people associate it with Jan Brady or figure it's short for Janet or Janice.

I love that you have your Dad's name as your middle name!

There are not enough Gomez's in the world!

[franticgoddess.livejournal.com]

I think so. I read in the Writer's Almanac this morning that it was a very rare first name when he was born, though now it's very popular. Don't know anything about the pronounciation though, I should look it up!

She also, briefly, wanted to name him Prince Charming.

You know, suddenly reading all these has made e realize how important names are!