WHAT’S IN A NAME

Maybe this should actually be titled what’s in a nickname. So I figure most of us pretend to be too cool for nicknames but then, when we create some of our email addresses (those first ones before you needed to sound grown up, sane and professional). Those more affected by ‘shadiness’ probably added their year of birth, for some unfathomable reason.

Most of us outgrew these but majority are stuck with the painfully embarrassing reminders since our social networking sites were unfortunately opened with the nicknames (read email addresses). Go ahead take a look at the contacts list on your email and you will see that, you and your friends had them.

In my case mine came of us a horrific blend of my favorite book’s character (at the time and half my name, I have no idea what I was thinking). In my defense thought, my favorite character was an awesome woman, at least by the standards of those times: pre-ice age. Let me tell you a little about her maybe this gives someone some insight into my psyche. She is Ayla the main character in a series of books by Jean M. Auel.

This character moved me, and maybe it is because my first encounter with her was a bit like the forbidden fruit. I mean the content of the ‘The mammoth Hunters’. It is a rich epic tale set in pre-ice age. Which I would suggest was a bit too grown up for me the first time I read it at 15. I always had my nose buried in a book somewhere and consequently read all the age appropriate books way ahead of my time. I mean I read the sweet valley series, Tin Tin, Famous Five and the like, before I was 12,this is my excuse for the too grown up book i read at 15. My nickname is a tribute to the truly phenomenal character named Ayla.

I like to think that what you chose as a ‘nickname’ before you knew better can give you unfiltered insight into who you were because the world taught you to be ‘appropriate’. Take a look at your first email address, pen name e.t.c. and see what’s in a name.