Tuesday, May 11, 2010

What's in a name?

I had two sick babies the past couple days & yesterday when Scott got home he said, "I think we should just order pizza!"

Which could be my favorite 7 words in the English language.

Next to, "Honey, you should go get a massage."

Anyway, so I called, ordered the pizza, & went to pick it up. Setting it down on the table I noticed my name on the side:

I couldn't help but roll my eyes & think "so original, pizza guy Elliott" because I've heard that good ol' line for the better part of my life.

Growing up Olivia wasn't a common name. I think I met 1 other Olivia.

So, when I said, "Hi, my name is Olivia."

The response would almost exclusively be "Oh, like Olivia Newton John. he he."

Yup, just like that.

Except for the first time I met my high school boyfriend. We were at a dance & the music was loud.

When I said, "I'm Olivia" he said, "Like the water?"

I just stared at him totally confused until I processed that he thought I said Evian.

So, let's commiserate, guys. Tell me what sort of associations / names did you get called as a child because of your name?

38 comments:

Lindsay Jane said...

Growing up there were no weird associations but I called into APX customer service the other day and told the guy my name (expecting that he would know who I am) and he turned to his supervisor and said "Lindsay Lohan's on the phone for you."

Joanie said...

people still think it's cute to ask me, "where's chachi??"

Michelle said...

I have always thought that Michelle was a very common and easy name......but inevitably my teachers on the first day would mess up and call me Michael. I was mortified!

Audra said...

I guess my name came from a show called "Big Valley" So a few random people who know of that show mention it. More than anything people just get my name wrong: Aundra, Audrey, Aubrey, Andre... all sorts of things.

Katie said...

Katie never got any comments, but people thought it was hilarious to substitute Jetson for Jeppson. Did you ever get that? And of course, I always had to spell out the whole two P's thing.

Lyric said...

I can't tell you how many times in my life I have been asked if I am musical...or been pointed out that my name has some musical association (obvious much?)...but every once in awhile I would be mistaken for "eric" or "linda" in school....fortunately my name is easy to spell!

(and yes, we used to get the "jetson" thing all the time!)

Ashley said...

Yep, the Jetson thing was hilarious. Now it's "right" - but that is usually pretty fun. People always say I found my Mr.Right. Har. And our answering machine says "you've reached the Wright family, at the wrong time"

That's pretty gutsy to put Olivia Newton John - you should have complained and got a free pizza :)

Sorry your kids are sick. No fun at all.

Unknown said...

the name meredith was found in the BOY section of the baby name book when i was little---i was the only meredith---so people would ask if it was like Dandy Don Meredith----not even a first name!

Chantel said...

My maiden name was Chantel Wehr (pronounced "Shawn-tel Wheer") and lo and behold, I wound up with "Show-and-tell Wierdo" as the hilarious name of choice.

Babe, you get asked out by ALL the wrong guys when your nick name is "show and tell."

Just meandering about blogland on a rainy afternoon--thanks for the laugh!

Natalie said...

I have always been called "Nat" and "Guhnat" I hated being called both because I'm not a bug! A couple years ago my husbands friends started calling me "Natty" I don't mind that one!

Anne said...

"Oh, wow! Annie Hall! Have you seen the movie??"

Kylie said...

Kylie Minogue...another 80's favorite.

Silver Strands said...

That is too funny! I can't even tell you how many weird things people come up with from my name Denalee. I've had Denali (the mountain), Hoonalee (no idea), Dennis (Um, excuse me, I'm a woman!) and those are just a few.

Poor us!

And SUPER cute blog! I love it.

lindsey said...

With a common name like Lindsey the only annoying thing was the spelling.. In the second grade I was LindsEy E. and there was LindsA A.. creative isn't it?
I am afraid I have doomed my Mayan to a life of name confusion.. People already ask me to repeat her name several times and then still mispronounce it.

Anonymous said...

With my name being Misty, the boys would always call me Musty growing up. Great!

Jill Hunt said...

I hated my name growing up because I was constantly made fun of with the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme. They would go even further and make up more lines to the rhyme. Now that I am older, I really like my name because not many other people have it.

brooke said...

Rory was almost named Olivia! I love it! And Olivia Newton John is fine... she was awesome on Glee last week!

Christie said...

Everyone (especially doctor's offices) sees an "n" before the "e" in Christie.
And of course I got the Jetson thing.
One year a student kept singing "I'm sorry Ms. Jeppson. I am for real."

James said...

I get Bear all the time for my last name. I was called OG Bear by my Security team because of one incident when someone called thinking Bear was my name and I growled when they handed me the phone.

I also got a lot of Captain Kirk/ Dr. McCoy jokes ("D*mn it Jim, I'm a doctor not a ____" when I was a JROTC cadet, especially when I was a captain.

Marni said...

People get my name wrong all the time. It's ridiculous--"Marni" is not that hard!! I get called Marlee, Marti, Margie.... One guy even truly thought I'd said my name was Barney. Seriously?? As for intentional "nicknames" when I was a kid, the one I remember most was "Marni from Narnia" after my teacher read us "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" in 3rd grade. Yeah.

Cranberryfries said...

I'd always get the "Debbie does (fill in your own funny words here)" People always think they're so original.

When I was 12-ish I thought I was so cute when I'd tell boys to remember my name by remembering "Little Debbie" desserts. My last name used to rhyme with a dessert so I'd say "Little Debbie makes Muffins."

Dont worry, I'm totally rolling my eyes at myself now.

Jamie said...

My maiden name was Bowles (pronounced bowls) but because of the "e" a lot of people would say "bowels". I have had some people I have talked to over the phone think that I said "Jetson" or "Jackson" for some reason. A lot of times when I go to a fast food place and they call out my first name to get the order they pronounce it the spanish way. Sometimes it is kind of funny :)

Casey said...

Casey and Finnigan, Casey Jones, Casey up to bat... Every single one you can think of.. and in 1971, Casey was a boys name and I'm a girl.. Lots of people get excited when they find out it's short for Cassandra for me. My sister named her daughter Casey, in honor of me, so I don't mind anymore. :)

Esther Noelle said...

Wowzers look at all these comments! :) My fourth grade math teacher called me "Es-THer" (th sound) and I was too shy to correct her. And the other day at Cafe Rio I told them my name was Esther on my pick up order over the phone and I get there and they had put HECTOR.

lexylou said...

I didn't get anything much when I was growing up for my first name, Alexis, but I get it a lot now.... At the playground little Lexy's are running around everywhere, Mom's calling for Alexis and I turn...arg...
My maiden name was Croft, so I got "Croft? Like Lara Croft?" YUP...

Susan said...

Hilarious. :)

Susan said...

Okay, I will be brave and let you in on my nicknames of death.

My name is Susan, pronounced SOO-ZIN, but I got Suzanne a lot. Then there would always be some really "clever" person who would start singing Oh Suzanna, and then people being too confused to know what to call me, so shorten it to "Susie" which I hate. HATE when people outside of my family calls me that. Then it was Susie Q, which isn't a lot better.

But during history classes, I always became Susan B. Anthony, and when I started doing drama it was Susan Sarandon... yes, very clever. I was just the only Susan people knew, because the name isn't super popular. I was always the only Susan at my school.

In my adult life, people started calling me Sue for some reason... Because it's more mature? JUST FOR THE RECORD, SUE IS WORSE THAN SUSIE! I despise being called Sue, though I know some Sue's and I don't hate their name... I just don't think it fits me.

The worst WORST is when people decide to give you a nickname and then introduce you as that nickname to new people, and then you have to go around either being called that nickname by mass amounts of people or put an end to it right then and there.

Anyway, yeah. I think we all have nicknames.

Susan said...

Oh, and one more thing. When I was really little, I went by Su Su because that is what everyone in my family called me. EVERYONE. It was on my suitcase, and my life jacket, any thing that needed my name on it. When I was like, 4, I had a philipino neighbor and she laughed when she heard my grandma call my name "Su Su." I asked her what was funny and she said that in her language, which was, I believe Tagalog, my name meant "Boob" or "Breast."

So, ha ha, Yeah.

Buck Jeppson said...

Them: "Buckley? Oh, are you related to William F. Buckley?"

Me: Yeah, except it's my first name and his last name.

William F. was a conservative writer and editor, for those of you who don't know. Luckily, since he died a few years ago I don't get this as often.

Regan said...

Ronald Reagan of course- it's just too easy! No my name is not Ronald... =)

Kristal said...

Holy Cow! thirty comments! you are a superstar!

I would get crystal clear, crystal chandelier, crystal meth, ... at least your name was associated with a person! I was always a descriptive noun.

Denise said...

My last name is Potter... I hated Harry Potter till I was about 14 (4 books out, I'd read none of them). Now I sport my name proudly. It's a little weird though when I have to give people my name over the phone because my middle initial is "H"
It goes like this:
Denise/ okay, middle initial/ H/ as in Harry?/ yes/ Last name?/ Potter/ H as in Harry Potter?/ Yes, but my last name is also Potter/ Oh... okay

Liv said...

I always get called "Olivia" no matter how emphatically I pronounce the LLLLLLLLLLL at the beginning. Usually though, I'm Lydia, Lizia, Lillia... and anything except Livia.

IT'S SO FRUSTRATING.

Danielle said...

So when I was about 8 years old I told my mom that I didn't like my name and that is wasn't fair that I didn't get to choose my own name. She asked me what I'd like my name to be instead and I emphatically replied, "Olivia"...no joke. I thought it was the perfect mix of exotic and interestingly creative sounding. I was an odd child;) Anyway, consider yourself envied.

Mike Kessler said...

I would use a different pizza company. That one just dissed you. I like Olivia Newton John, but that's not =your= name.
And no, since my name is Mike, there's not a whole lot that can be done with it. My family would say, "Michael Michael Motorcycle." Funny when you're 3 years old, not funny when your 53.
Also, my "prove your a human" word is "dente". I don't know why I find that funny, except my teeth hurt.

Emma-Jayne said...

Ha, this makes me giggle. Being the unfortuante owner of the surname Fake well you can but imagine. Cadbury was a favourite (cadbury flake) as was Robot and are those real when those boys got to be teenagers and learnt about plastic surgery. Now I am commonly called Miss Bake, Rake, Sake, Nake, Fgake? and my personal favourite is applying for jobs and turning up to interview to be told they didn't think you were real and the etire office had bets on wether I was real or not! Charming!!!

Clayton Zaugg said...

I've always called you Livy-J :)

monica said...

when i was in egypt i got some monica lewinsky/bill clinton joke some some of the men at the papyrus. shop. i didnt get their joke until i realized that was what the man was referring to. but then it ended up funny and we all had a good laugh and i became bff with some egyptians. i can handle that.