What’s in a name
My siblings and I all had two names (except for the youngest brother) when we were born, one was formal Vietnamese names (for school) and the other was either American/French names for home. I haven’t had the foggiest idea as to the reason why my parents decided to do that. It’s not enough that they had five kids to deal with on a daily basis, but trying to remember which names to call us sometimes can lead to “hey, hey…you!”
Both my sisters have nice names, except for me. I’m stuck with…Betty (no offense to any Bettys out there). I don’t know how my Mom got that name from. She was greatly influenced by movies at the times, her favorite actresses were Audrey Hepburn, Sofia Loren and Natalie Wood. Either one of those names would have been lovely. But Betty? Maybe it was a nickname for Elizabeth as in THE Elizabeth Taylor, she was also one of my Mom’s favs too.
But then again, what’s in a name right? Sometimes you hear people say “yeah, that name fits that person”. But I’m not sure if I “fit” the name Betty, not that I know what a Betty really looks like, maybe like Betty Boop, or Betty Rubble (as in the Flintstones), or Bette Davis? Although I do have a deep voice like Ms. Davis, big feet like Mr. Rubble, but nothing from Ms. Boop there.
Well, I can say that I’m proud to be called Betty now. I mean who wouldn’t when there’s a tv show named after you. Personally, it’s a good show too, and I don’t see anything ugly about the main character, Betty Suarez.
I mean if having a tv show named after you is not enough, how about this folks, courtesy of R*Belle, she inspired me to write this post, so blame it on her.
How about you? Did you like your name growing up? And any fruity name like “Apple” that you’ve given to your child?
My siblings and I all had two names (except for the youngest brother) when we were born, one was formal Vietnamese names (for school) and the other was either American/French names for home. I haven’t had the foggiest idea as to the reason why my parents decided to do that. It’s not enough that they had five kids to deal with on a daily basis, but trying to remember which names to call us sometimes can lead to “hey, hey…you!”
Both my sisters have nice names, except for me. I’m stuck with…Betty (no offense to any Bettys out there). I don’t know how my Mom got that name from. She was greatly influenced by movies at the times, her favorite actresses were Audrey Hepburn, Sofia Loren and Natalie Wood. Either one of those names would have been lovely. But Betty? Maybe it was a nickname for Elizabeth as in THE Elizabeth Taylor, she was also one of my Mom’s favs too.
But then again, what’s in a name right? Sometimes you hear people say “yeah, that name fits that person”. But I’m not sure if I “fit” the name Betty, not that I know what a Betty really looks like, maybe like Betty Boop, or Betty Rubble (as in the Flintstones), or Bette Davis? Although I do have a deep voice like Ms. Davis, big feet like Mr. Rubble, but nothing from Ms. Boop there.
Well, I can say that I’m proud to be called Betty now. I mean who wouldn’t when there’s a tv show named after you. Personally, it’s a good show too, and I don’t see anything ugly about the main character, Betty Suarez.
I mean if having a tv show named after you is not enough, how about this folks, courtesy of R*Belle, she inspired me to write this post, so blame it on her.
How about you? Did you like your name growing up? And any fruity name like “Apple” that you’ve given to your child?
I think “Betty” is an adorable name. Plus, if I’m not mistaken, isn’t “betty” a slang term for a cute girl?
That is TOO FUNNY! Now when people call you “fun Betty,” you can simply smile and say “how did you know?”
Laughing and shuddering a bit at Jeff’s comment. My betty is definitely NOT ready I guess.
I HATED my name growing up. I’m not sure why, other than there were a few of us Heathers all the time. I was also a bit ticked that I missed out on a name with an “i” or a “y” so I could write pretty ys and dot my i’s with a heart or something equally obnoxious.
Now, well, it’s my name. That’s just how it is. I couldn’t imagine changing it, like one of my Aunts did as an adult.
I always thought Michelle was great but too common. There were always three other Michelles in the class. I’ve tried to go a little more unique with my kids without freaking them out and setting them up for therapy later in life. If I had any more I’d use Sadie, Marian, Eve, or (my personal favorite) Heath.
My name is from a country folk singer and a basketball player. I’m often mistaken for a guy coz my real name is just so masculine. I’d be fine with Betty. Hehe.
I haven’t seen an episode of the show yet, but I’ve liked the actress (America Ferrara) in other projects and it sounds great!
My friends and I use to call hot chick in H.S. “Betty’s”. So that’s not a bad name.
As for fruity names, we call my daughter Miss Bean. It’s a long story, but somehow it stuck. Poor kid answers to Miss Bean rather than her own name now.
Jeff~I’m snorting Lactaid milk out of my nose reading your comment b/c I was going to expand further and write something about that “Fun Betty” but my parents DO read this blog and they probably will give me that weird look and that speech “we’re from a good family, we don’t do that…”
Tony~I never heard of that before but OKAY! I dig that!
Betty is a nice old fashioned name– like Bonnie. I was named after my grandma bonnie — who had a sister named Betty BTW. I’ve had a love hate relationship with my name. But it is my name and I can’t really see myself as having a different one
I love the name Betty and I can honestly say you are my first Betty that I have had the pleasure to ‘know’…
I have a question…
What is your formal Vietnamese name???
And your parents giving you all two names…
My goodness…
I came from a family of four and we all only had one name to be shared.. and that was ‘YOU’!
When my parents were deciding on names for my brother and I, my dad insisted that we be named a name that had a nickname. My dad’s name is Gordon and he never had a nickname that he liked. “Gordo” was not one he enjoyed. So, my brother is Anthony but everyone calls him Tony - and I’m Sharon, but everyone calls me Shari. The ONLY time either of us are called by our legal names is when we are in trouble … then we get the famous first-and-middle-name combination … “Sharon Michele, come here!”. Luckily it’s been nearly 25 years since I’ve heard that!!
I think Betty is a nice name. My neighbour’s name is Betty & she’s an older, Scottish lady. I love the way she talks, with her Scottish accent & she’s just a truly nice & wonderful lady.
I had a weird name. Where I come from (Poland) my name was normal but once we moved here no one could pronounce it & it always got butchered. I hated it. I always said I would never name my kids something out of ordinary because that would make their lives miserable.
As an adult, I like my name. I get a lot of completements on it, once people know how to pronounce it.
I still wouldn’t name my kids anything odd though.
We have a Betty at work and I call her Betty-Boop or Betty-Boo! I love that name!!
My name has meaning, but I never liked it growing up. I was named after my Father’s Best Man and my Mothers Maid of Honor. Which, they haven’t had contact with in over 30 years! So what used to have meaning, really doesn’t anymore. lol
Now whenever I read your posts I’m going to be thinking “Boo Boo Bee Doop”.
Betty is a lovely name. And it’s one that you never have to worry about anyone mispronouncing, like mine.
betty’s a wonderful name. I was always called Mother Teresa…and look at me now! I’m not headed toward sainthood or anything…I just have 3 kids. The mother definitely fits me.
I used to want to name a girl Heaven Leigh, after a character in a cheesy V.C. Andrews book. I was like, 11 years old.
Well, I think the name Betty is going to make a comeback. I really do. Because of you and that little Tv show of course.
I HATED my name growing up. There was a Jodi/y in EVERY one of my classes in school. HATED that. Hated it. There isn’t too many Jodi’s nowadays, but back in 70’s there was a whole gaggle of us. Which is why I named Trent what I did. I wanted something a little unique. LOVE THAT NAME. I messed up with Connor though, I didn’t do enough research. There is a gazillion little Connor’s out there and I just know that he’s gonna hate his name like I did. *sigh* At least I gave one of my kids a semi sorta unique name.
I HATED my name growing up. Pierre? Are you kidding me? For a Korean-American guy? Even to this day, I still get asked on a daily basis, “So, what’s up the name Pierre?” Aarrgh! But I’ve learned to live with it and I’m comfortable with myself so…wtf? Nothing I can do about it anyway.
Meanwhile, we’re big fans of “Ugly Betty” over here. Are you digging it?
Well I liked my name…except for all the ‘… the Menace’ references. But being married to a filipina has taught me how creative naming children can get! My neices nicknames are: Ayi, Gia, Ysa and a sis-in-law is Ygy.
With only two kids, a boy and a girl, I sometimes am reduced to calling out ‘hey…you…no the girl…get me the remote!’
or I call my daughter by my sister’s name or my son by my daughter’s name….what would I do with three, much less five!!
I LOOOVE the name Betty. It reminds me of a name you’d see on the nametag of a waitress in a ’40s diner. Like Roxie and Irene and Mabel and Ruby. So chic.
Me? I’m rediscovering my real name and loving it. I was Cathy for years and years… one of a gazilion growing up.
I’m with you on the name thing (by the way, five kids in my family, too. I’m the youngest.)
I always hated Marsha. And don’t even get me started on the whole Brady Bunch issue…
I guess I’ve always liked my name.
My daughters and my sister’s 2 kids all have names that start with K. It gets really confusing sometimes!
Pendullum~Well, if I tell you my Vnamese name…I’d have to kill you.
Sweatpantsmom~Marsha Marsha Marsha! Sorry, I couldn’t help it.
MetroDad~We’re digging Ugly Betty over here too!
I’ve always liked my name, and in fact, I liked my whole name so much, I chose to keep it, rather than taking my husband’s surname. We were very selective about our kids’ names too. We wanted something unique, but not wierd. I think we succeeded.
I think it’s funny to read what other people think of their names. It seems most of us have had issues with our names, but have learned to love what we were given (and I thought I was the only one:)
Seriously, Betty is just so cute!
My parents originally intended my name to be Allyson… but in the hospital my mom signed all the paperwork BLANK and they took it to type in the information later. (This would never ever happen today!!) Anyway, they misspelled my name Allywon. It’s on my birth cert, my passport, everwhere.
My grandma was always pushing to have my mom fix it. And my grandma was also really pushing for the Allysun spelling.
So when I got married five years ago and hyphenated my name (dumb decision, but there you go) I fixed my first name too.
But did you know you can’t change the name on a birth certificate? At least, not in California… you can only ammend it. The original is the original, period. Weird.
I didn’t like my name. There were always cuter “Jenny’s” in my classes. Too common of a name for me.
Okay. I am partial to the name Betty because that is my mama’s name. Err..my Grandma, but I call her mama because she raised me. She is one of my BEST friends in the world, we are very close
But now I must say, you should try living with the name Samantha Jane, like me. It sounds like a little house on the prairie reject! hehe