Tuesday, August 26, 2008

My Name

Dad chose my name for me. When she was pregnant with me, mom had a dream about a beautiful baby girl named Jennifer Rebekah. She wanted to name me that, until she realized that every.single.baby.girl born in 1977 was named Jennifer. Dad suggested Charlene Rebekah, and it stuck.
I love that story. It makes me smile :) And be thankful that I have a more unusual name. I rarely have to give my last name, because I'm usually the only Charlene.

Unfortunately, it is very common that I hear "Char" by people who don't realize that the nickname makes my skin crawl. I try to gently tell them that I dislike Char, and 99% of the time, they are good about calling me by my full name. Occasionally they ask if I have a nickname, and I tell them no, that Charlene is good by me.

Well, now I have a nickname. Chosen by Josh and I. You may now call me Charla. I'm not insisting on it, especially by family. I know how impossible it is for me to call Daniel or Phillip Dan or Phil. It just ain't happenin'. So I don't expect family to remember or use it. I'm perfectly fine with that.

But if you've been wishing I had a nickname, you can feel free to call me by my new nom de chois, Charla!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How interesting! Cuz my actual name is Charla. And my mom nicknamed me Bunny. Ha! Go figure! I like Charla better :-)

Unknown said...

Hey CHARLA!!! :-) I was just enjoying your blog and had to comment. You know what, every. single. girl. born in 1976 was also named Jennifer. Believe me!! (I think I'm likethe 4th Jennifer on TDC's hybrid team!!!) - it's annoying.