Mama Kat provides 5 prompts; choose one and off you go. Today, I've chosen prompt #4: Your middle name. Though this isn't the most stellar piece I've ever written, it is about something that has been bothering me my entire life.
My middle name is Sue.
When I think of my middle name, I have apathy. Or maybe not. Maybe, I've never really liked it. But I've never hated it either. I just don't get it. Why "Sue?" Maybe because "Tamara" was so unusual compared to my sister and brothers with their "top 10 names of the 70s" names that my mom felt the need to neutralize it a bit. My maiden name was very cool, so without the "Sue" I had a great name.
Tamara Vellozzo has a lovely ring to it, don't you think? It suits me. It feels right. But Tamara Sue Vellozzo? No. "Sue" is a detractor of cool. It ruins the flow. It doesn't fit.
Names have a vibration to them. Numerologists even use your name to predict your life's destiny. I don't take much stock in that, but you can feel it when a name resonates with someone, can't you? We didn't spend hours in high school signing our autographs for nothing, after all. You had to switch your last name with the name of the boy you liked to see if it sounded good, right? To see if it flowed. Because names have a certain power to them, a dynamic, an energy.
"Sue" just doesn't do anything for me. It isn't even a special family name. I'm the only one of 4 whose middle name isn't a family name. Well, Mom? What were you thinking?
So, how about you? What do you feel about your middle name? Do share!
I think it sounds very southern. It has a nice flow to it. I like my middle name, even though my dad didn't know how to spell it on my birth certificate. It's Renae.
ReplyDeleteWe named DD2 Deborah Sue, her aunt's name was Suellen, and we didn't want to do that to her. Other names just did not fit. We use to sing Debby Sue to the tune of Peggy Sue...still not sure why we did this to her.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Clearly you weren't thinking! When I was a kid, everyone called me "Tammy" so "Tammy Sue" does have a certain, southern flow! But I'm not Southern!
DeleteMichon Renae - yours sounds tres French!
I've always liked my middle name - Caroline. It's a family name from my mother's side and I always wished it had been my first name. Gretchen is so harsh and...foreign sounding. Caroline is lyrical and ladylike. For some reason, I recently gave our little dog, Fancy a middle name. It's Marie. Fancy Marie. She's even started answering to it. My husband thinks I'm very silly.
ReplyDeleteI totally feel the same about my middle name (which happens to be Susan). I'm just all kind of "eh.." about it. I wish it stood for something or that I was named after someone in the family. Then again with my luck I'm just glad I wasn't named after Great Grandma Bertha...
ReplyDeleteOh, that is a good thing. Bertha! Who came up with that one in the first place? Yikes!
DeleteYou could always go by T.S. which sounds pretty cool...
ReplyDelete...and literary!
DeleteI think that one is taken by a literary genius! :)
Deleteit's cute! but i do have to agree that Tamara Vellozzo has a nice ring to it.. haha.
ReplyDeleteDid they watch a lot of Petticoat Junction? At least it's not "Jo."
ReplyDeleteMy middle name is Jean and I always hated it. Now I kinda like it. After all, how would I have come up with TheHillJean? ;)
I take issue with my last name though. My maiden name was Hayes. Hillary Hayes--LOVED that. Now it's Leonard and reads so lame. Sigh.
Hillary Hayes definitely has a nicer flow!
DeletePetticoat Junction! I loved that show! Actually, I think my mom (whose two-part first name ends with 'Jean') purposely named me 'Tamara' just to call me 'Tammy'... a name that has been reserved for only my closest relatives and childhood friends for 20 years now! I'm just not a "Tammy!" Ick.
Nice to "see" you again!!
I am going to have to save how I feel about my middle name because I am going to write a post about it but I can say I am pretty happy about it. It's different.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read about it! Be sure to come back or Tweet me!
DeleteTEE HEE... this reminds me of a friend of mine. She is from a family of four girls: Donna, Linda, Susan and... Tiffany... Tiffany is not even the youngest... Linda is. Finally one day, I went, "I'm sorry, but this just makes no sense!" Turns out Tiffany was adopted and that's the name her adoptive parents gave her. Her birth mother (Linda's mom) named her... Nancy! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm okay with my middle name now, but I hated it when I was a kid. Lynn. I just didn't think it could get more country and boring than just Lynn.
ReplyDeleteAnd then I turned around and bestowed the middle name upon my daughter...who, at this point, has not complained about it. But I'm sure it's coming.
I had a friend in school named Tamara; she pronounced it Tah-mahrah.
One spelling, three names! Tam-ah-rah (mine), Tah-may-rah and Tah-mar-ah (the Brits always say it this way). I think "Lynn" is lovely.
DeleteI love the name Tamara. So cool. And actually Sue sounds good with it. My middle name is Jane. Boring. But it's my mom's middle name so I'm okay with it. At least you got a cool first name! I'm one of a kajillion Kristis.
ReplyDeleteWhy, thank you, Kristi Jane. Are you a child of the 70's? Perhaps all of our parents had a thing for Southern sounding names... If mine were a family name I would feel better about it.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete