Monday, June 8, 2009

My Name is Sue - How Do You Do!

While I like the idea of having an unusual name (and Graham is quite unusual in my adopted home here in the US), in practice, it can be very tedious. Mostly, because people here frequently misspell it, or mis-hear it. Very often, people think I've said "Brian," or they want to spell it "Gram," or "Grahm." It's so American to want to economize on the number of letters in a name. Perhaps it would benefit me to have an empowering name, such as "Stone," "Brett," "Brad," or perhaps the most empowering of them all, "Sue" (With a big nod to The Man In Black).

5 comments:

Pazcual said...

Well I like my name. Both: blogger and real. I think it's great have unusual names, as long as those unusual names turn into something you can't even pronounce (thing that happens in spanish: sometimes, the names shocked you!)

Paz

P.S. I tried to find the marmite but it has become a "mission impossible". However, I will continue searching, I feel curious!

Traci said...

In the UK, my name really dates me. It was a very popular name in the 1970s so most Tracys are of a certain age (OK, I'm nearly 39!). It was a bit of a surprise to come to the US and realise that Tracy can be a male name here. My mum always thought I'd come out a boy and had planned to call me Gary!

Pazcual - are you in the US? If so, do you have a Cost Plus World Market near you? You can usually find Marmite there. I'm dying for you to try it and let us know what you think!

Graham said...

@Traci So, you changed the spelling of your name yourself?

You're so right about how names can date you! Tracy always hung out with Sharon, didn't she! And together, they wore their white stilettos when they danced around their handbags :)

If I had been a girl, my Mother wanted to name me Lydia. Thankfully, I was a boy!

@Paz - aren't you in Colombia? Probably not much of a chance of finding Marmite, unless you have a number of British ex-pats there. Good luck in your search.

Traci said...

Graham, I was trying to avoid the whole Essex thing! But yes, I did wear white stilettos in the 80s and had highlighted permed hair - didn't we all???

I did choose to change the spelling when I was around 16. There's not much else you can do with 'Tracy' is there? I thought I was v cool at the time ;) Still have to drop the 'i' for all my official stuff though.

Pazcual said...

Haha yes, and that's why it's practicly impossible but I won't give up. Now I'm trying to find the name in spanish to see if I can get some luck