Monday, November 2, 2009

Do you have a namesake?

When I was growing up I hated my name. I got teased; got called Tomato. And I always had to spell it. It's not exactly love, but over the years I have grown to like it. I still have to spell it. I like Mara even better although I do find it a bit weird when I get called Mara by people I don't know very well (or worse still, people I don't like much). Then of course, there is my middle name: Heidi. I think it's a nice name. I have a cousin called Heidi. She's stunning and Heidi really suits her. Heidi is younger than me so I wasn't named after her. I don't have a namesake. And I don't think Heidi suits me.

When I had my first daughter I knew immediately that she was a Ruby. Those who know Ruby will agree the name suits her. Steve wanted to be sure before making it official though so we trialled it first (about four weeks) - that drove people crazy! We didn't give Ruby a middle name; thought Ruby Stevens was enough. But over time it niggled away at me. I'm not a Stevens, I'm a Tesolin and I'd given birth to this child and we didn't share a name. It didn't seem right. So I got the necessary papers to change her name to Ruby Tesolin Stevens. The only problem was I didn't fill out the papers and send them off. By the time I got around to it the fee had changed from something like $30 to $250!

By the time I had Eadie, who is named after Steve's maternal grandmother, I knew I wanted to include Tesolin as a middle name. And when Ava came along I didn't give it a second thought. I don't use their full names very often. I don't feel the need to include Tesolin on forms (except for the bloody passport applications). It's more about us having a linked identity which I know is obvious. It's also about them knowing where they come from.

I guess that's what drive people research their family tree. To find out more about identity, heritage and missing links. What a great idea.

1 comment:

  1. Hiya, wanted to let you know you've won our little giveaway for some Christmas cards. So if you could send your details to us that would be great and we ca pop them in the mail.
    well done!
    oursweetwilliam@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete