Tuesday, November 13, 2007

What’s in a NAME?


My name given me at birth was “Linda.” It was a popular name in the 1940s when I was born because of a famous movie star “Linda Darnell”. Who was she you ask? “Linda” in Spanish means “pretty” but I never felt particularly “pretty” growing up as a tomboy-angly, tall, super skinny (5 feet 9 inches and 110 pounds), shy, quiet, an only child, a teenager who wore glasses. Ballet lessons were my salvation, when at age fifteen I learned to move more gracefully and built my self confidence through performing on stage (although because of my tallness I always danced in the back row. No pas de deux or dance with a partner for me when I was dancing on my toes.)

As an adult, I took control of my name following the example of my parents by shortening my first given name from “Linda” to “Lin”. My dad named “Stanley” had been called “Stan” and my mom “Evelyn” had become “Eve”, so I “Linda” became legally “Lin” when I got divorced in 1992 and wanted to make a NEW START in my life with a NEW NAME. “Lin” which means “lake” or “waterfall” or “pool.” A nature name, I like that. Swan Lake was always my favorite ballet so perhaps I could think of myself as an elegant "swan." Tell me about your first name, what it means, how you got it and how you feel about it.

2 comments:

  1. Well, If you know me, you know my name is Dawn Mercedes. Which is what I like better than any other name.

    When my mom was in college, she had dated a boy who drove a Mercedes Benz. So when she was going to marry my dad, he promised her a Mercedes one day too.

    Soon I came along...thus the Mercedes. I have always been their one and only Mercedes.

    I think Dawn is from a friend of theirs...not sure on why they picked it. Maybe it just sounded good.

    The rest you'll have to read on my blog. I was typing and typing and typing...then figured I would blog it!

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  2. Hey Mom maybe you can tell us the story behind my name better than I could! lol :)

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