This week's My Life Monday is about my name and why my parents chose it. Here's the skinny on the name situation:
My name was going to be Katie. My mom's very good friend was pregnant at the same time she was and wanted to name her daughter Kathrine. They had a little competition and the one who had their baby first got the name. Kathrine was born nine days before I was. And we were best friends from the time we were born until I turned into a wretched 'tween looking for friends in all the wrong places.
My mom was okay with losing the name for two reasons: 1) She always knew there was going to be an Emily in the family. In fact, my sister Lori was supposed to be Emily, but when they saw her for the first time the name didn't seem to fit. And 2) Katie was the name of my grandmother's ill-tempered stepmother. My grandma would have never forgiven my mother if she named her child after "That Woman". And really, who wants to cheese off Grandma? Not me. She's one tough cookie.
So all in all it was a good thing that I was named Emily. I like my name, I like the way it flows and I like the non-funky spelling. I like how in Utah people pronounce it like Emly, with no i.
These days I share my name with lots of pint-sized Emilys. I don't really enjoy that part because I think I am getting yelled at all the time. In church I hear, "Emily BE QUIET!" and I think it is for me.
Not even my own family is safe. I married into a family with an Emily already in it. She was 6 or 7 when I joined their crazy brood. Her brothers and sisters called me Big Emily and their sister Little Emily. I was not a fan of this either so when we got married I said, "Guess what kids! I'm your aunt now so you don't have to call me Big Emily anymore! Guess what you get to call me?" The kids thought about it hard, then said, "Big Aunt?" Yes, children. Call me Big Aunt. Just what any woman wants to be called.
So there is the story of my name. Semi short, semi sweet. (are you proud of the shortness? I am giddy with glee!) If you are curious about my middle name or lack thereof, please see this post.
17 comments:
Cute story Big Em, can I call you that now, even if I am bigger than you!!
Cute story. I love how it's always a race to see who gets the name. Heck name them Katie 1 and Katie 2. Let them figure out the rest.
Hey! I am from Utah and I ALWAYS say Emily with an I. However I had a mom that was raised in Texas and Washington and refused to let us become full-fledged Utahans. I even pronounce Mountain and Layton with the T...try finding a Utahan that does that! Lol
I've never heard Emly. Maybe that's just in redneck land.
What a great story. My sister-in-law has a step-daughter with my same name. It is very funny. She gets a huge kick out of our shared name and always calls to me LOUDLY just so she can scream her own name. LOL
Fun story. I love your name! One of my best friends of all time is named Emily. And my first daughter is named Emily. Although if I had known she would regularly have 2 other Emilys every year in her class in school, I probably would have gone with Emma.
(I don't have a middle name, either. Louisa is another favorite of mine, reminds me of Little Women.)
Emily is one of my favorite names. I know a lot of great Em's. And LOL at Big Aunt!
Big Aunt. That is funny. I love the name Emily, but my sister-in-law already has it. I want to avoid the big-Emily, little-Emily thing.
I love the races to the names...lol... Aunt Big...lol...yeah, thats you.
Love the name. I have no middle name either. So sad, missing out on the middle name fun! Fun story!
Ahhh! My daily dose of Emily:) Your stories are the best!
Cute story. So, what? You don't like being called "Big Aunt"? LOL!
Btw...looks like you had a great time at the bloggirls in Idaho. I wanted to go; just couldn't make it happen.
I use both Emly and Emily....what does that make me? Not a Utahn. I think I use Emly when I'm laid back and having a hint of southern accent sneak in....
Dude...your word verification has NCIS in it...how did they know that's on tonight!??
Emily, this was HILARIOUS! The name race, the funny nicknames...
Very Cute! My MIL refers to all EmIlys as EmLys. :)
Big Aunt!! I'm lol over here... :)
oh, and for the record, my word verification the first time was "bfqrt" which clearly spells "bfart"...
Also, not to sound stalkerish, but I had a dream with you and Alicia the other night. Apparently, we're all really good friends. :)
Ok, loving the Big Aunt story! ROFL
My parents got into a situation like that with names with my brother. But in the end, both families used the same name! So my brother (Kiel, yes...it's a funky spelling, live with it) and his friend Kyle were two weeks apart in age. The good part about that was when the boys were running into the street, getting into trouble, etc, all it took was one big "KYLE!" to get both of them to stop! lol
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