My motto here at “Taking Time to Smell the Roses” is to take the opportunities we can to have a little fun now and then. There’s a good excuse today, because the folks over at Wellcat.com have established Feburary 13th as Get a Different Name Day holiday. This is the day we may change our name to whatever we wish and have the right to expect colleagues, family and friends to so address us.
In case you have never thought about changing your name (even for a day) and are at a loss how to join in celebrating this holiday, check out this site — Fantasy Name Generator
The justification for today’s holiday is in part for those who hate the birth names they were given. For those in the U.S., you might find it interesting to see if your given name is on the list of Popular Baby Names for the year you were born. My given name is not, but I still found it interesting to check various years and see how names cycled in popularity.
So the story goes, here is how my parents picked a name for me. They thought I was going to be a boy (or maybe that was their wishful thinking?) and they had already picked out the name Jack (after my Mom’s brother Uncle Jack). So I guess they were back-peddling in the hospital to quickly come up with a derivative name for the little girl baby that the stork delivered instead, lol.
I don’t hate my birth name, but the uncommon spelling entered on the birth certificate has been a minor grief throughout my life. My legal first name is Jacquelin. That’s right, no ‘e’ on the end. You wouldn’t believe the countless legal documents I’ve had to send back for correction because invariably people want to add an ‘e’. “Jacquelin-without-the-e” became a well-rehearsed jingle.
Almost no one ever calls me Jacquelin. I go by Jackie. But my fantasy name is Nichole — or Nicky for short. So that is what you need to call me today, ok?
What’s your name for today?
p.s. Thanks to Thomas and Ruth Roy at Wellcat for permission to share this holiday with you.
Thanks for sharing the story of how the holiday came about, Thomas.
Nice article, Jackie! The day was originally Margaret Anne Day in honor of my former wife. She was sitting in the backyard with some friends and me, and she complained that she thought her name was “boring.” So one of our friends said, “Well, just change it. You’re a grown up. Let’s call you Margeaux.” Well, by then I’d already created about 20 of my 90+ holidays, so I created Margaret Anne Day, then changed it several years later to include everyone. Cheers!
Jackie (Nicky),
I think Nicky would fit you perfectly!
My birth name was Bonita. I never liked it and started having everyone call me Bonnie in junior high. When I was 19 I changed it to Bonne and have used that name ever since. Last year I had it legally changed to Bonne and it feels awesome that I never have to use Bonita again! I truly feel Bonne is my perfect name. Unless, of course, I went by Anne for today – that was a favorite of mine, too!
My real name isn’t Kai, though to all intents and purposes, everyone that knows me now knows me as Kai – I went through a sea change after kicking the dad of my kids out and one of them was to change my name. This year, after seven years of everyone knowing me as Kai, I’m going to officially change my name by deed poll, just before the books come out, because it seems right 🙂