What's In A Name Anyway

At some point I'm sure we've all wished we didn't have the name we have. As a kid I used to be subjected to a whole barrage of ridicule because Renee should apparently be pronounced "Rennie".
Yep, I went to public schools and I'm the first to admit the kids weren't really the sharpest tools in the shed.

Anyway, I was just telling a twitter friend the names of all my Mac computers and iPhone. My new laptop, which should arrive any day now, will be known as Charlotte. Coincidentally this is the name I wish I had.

You know how sometimes a name resonates with you? It might conjure nice images, a lovely memory or even a nice warm feeling in the depths of your psyche.
Personally, all of the above ring true for me with the name Charlotte. It's also a name that epitomises serenity and grace.

I was telling another twitter friend about my deepest desire to be beautifully graceful. Even as a little girl I wanted to be like Audrey Hepburn. I didn't know why her exactly, only I knew she was graceful.
I used to watch a cartoon called Lady Lovelylocks so much I broke the video stores copy! She was graceful, kind and friendly. All her friends and her subjects loved her, and not because they had to. Princess and all, they loved her.
I wanted to be just like that. Thin, beautiful, graceful, kind and caring. Yet I knew two of those would always be beyond my reach.

So I decided, at the wonderful age of 7, that I would endeavour to be graceful, kind and caring. I went about my days learning how to walk without stomping heavily on the ground. I learnt how to breathe silently because I was paranoid that I would breathe too heavily and thus sound like a fat and ugly witch.

Then one day I heard the name Charlotte and I knew it was the name that embodied all those things I wanted to be. It even rolled off my tongue like it was perfect. It was perfect.

If I could have chosen my name I would have picked Charlotte.

Mind you, I'm some what attached to Renee. My grandmother named me and since she died when I was four I have always felt a strange connection to her. It would seem inappropriate to dismiss the gift she bestowed me. Even if I do wish my name was Charlotte instead!

Do you have a name you prefer over your own?