What’s In A Name?
Posted by Cassy on January 11, 2008
This post has very little do with serving.
How strongly do you feel about your name?
I mean, it defines you. It characterizes you. Your name is who you are.
Some names are precieved strong, some weak, some smart, some stupid.
Some names have elaborate meanings and some are simple and to the point.
Names can go back thousands of years in history, or made up in the drop of a hat.
Some names are passed down through families, some names are changed because they hate their families.
Personally, I don’t feel the STRONGEST connection to my name. I was named after Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira. My mom was in the hospital after I was born and the show came on. Voila! Insant baby name!
My Step-Sister shares my name. Weird coincidence, right? She is Kassandra, I am Cassandra.
When she was 4 and I was 6, right before our parents married, she proclaimed… “I AM KASSANDRA. NOT YOU!!!”
My Superior Intellectual Ability at age 6 simply shrugged and said ‘OK’.
My mom has called me Cassy as far back as I can possibly remember.
No big loss for me!
There is a problem with Cassy though. It gets misheard in 99% of verbal interactions
“Hi Guys! Welcome to _____! My name is Cassy and I will be taking care of you this afternoon!”
“Cathy?”
“Cassy.”
“CASEY?”
“C-A-S-S-Y!”
“oh. ok.”
And I’m already off to a bad start.
I’ve tried using Cassandra. After 22 years programming of not listening when that name is called, it’s mighty hard to start back up again.
Even that has problems.
“ca-SAN-druh”
is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
“Ca-SAUN-dra”
is the correct way, people!
get with my program here!
big fun said
My mother named me Mary Susan, and she and my family always called me Susie or Susan. I never felt like a Susan or Susie, and often wished my name was Jessica or — yes–Cassandra. I tried using “Sue” when I was a teenager because I thought it sounded more sophisticated. And then Johnny Cash came out with that hateful song and all bets were off. After college I got a job and the employer called me “Mary” because that’s what was listed on my application. For the first time I didn’t correct a person who called me Mary. I let it go, because it occured to me that Mary all of a sudden felt right. It was my name, albeit a simple and servicable one. And it’s been my name ever since. Go figure.
Blondefabulous said
I often never get called by my name, unless I am in some sort of trouble. Why do co-workers find it necessary to give you a nickname? I had this one guy call me Nickle or Nicolette for ever at this one job, but I was nice and didn’t name him Smelly Shitfaced Butcher. Seems a man with 9 fingers shouldn’t quibble about what you want to be addressed by, but I digress…. I have noticed that in places with either public service of some sort, or a more casual work environment are more apt to mispronounce your name, or call you something else entirely. Sorry to hear about your job woes. We had the same problem of a different sort in our household. Good Luck!