I admit it... I've been reading BabyNames... *hides head in shame* What can I say though... my head is pounding due to exhaustion, which is due in [large] part to the cat waking me up at 4:30 this morning and compounded by the large and urgent project I've spent the last 2 days on. The project, I am pleased to say, is now complete, and looks quite lovely if I do say so myself (which I do!). And while I do have other work to do, my headache is somewhat of a roadblock in that regard, in that, I simply cannot will myself to actually attempt to think. At least, not about PHP.

And thus, my mind has sped off into other favorite topics, settling on that old standby: names.

I think names are fascinating. Although, more appropriately, I should probably say that I think namers are fascinating, because when I see or hear a name (particularly an unusual one), after the initial reaction of relating the name to a personality (everybody judges based on name, whether or not they admit it) the next thing I immediately think is "What kind of people would name their child that?" A few people in the past couple of weeks have posted polls on BabyNames, having readers guess the age, education, marital status of parents based on the names of the children. All for fun of course, but it's kinda funny to realize the conclusions that you jump to from hearing one name or another.

It's kinda funny that I have never posted about this before. I've been reading BabyNames (henceforth referred to as "BN") on and off for over a year, and had many discussions about names with Molly far prior to that. Most girls have got their first six children pretty well named in their heads before they ever meet the father. :)

I suppose I could start by talking about my own name. I happen to like my name. "Leslie Erin." Oddly enough I am actually named after my father and grandfather, whose middle name is Leslie. My mom likes to remind me that "Leslie" is the male spelling of the name (and I've met my share of male Leslie's, none under the age of 40) but she thinks the "-ie" is prettier than the female version, "Lesley", and I must say I quite agree with her. But I may be biased. :) Anyhow, our baby book at home says that "Leslie" means "from the grey fortress", which I have to say I always rather detested. When I was older I found a card somewhere that says it means "peaceful meadow", which I like much more. :) According to BN, "Lesley" means "grey fortress" and "Leslie" means "meadowlands". I think they mixed them up. If you look up names meaning "meadow", BN will spit back a list of names and a whole bunch of them end in "-ley" -- signifying to me that "-ley" probably means meadow. :) Either way though, since "Leslie" and "Lesley" are pronounced the same, probably either meaning can be placed with either name. Spelling doesn't seem to count for much anymore. ;) My middle name, "Erin", was a favorite of my mother's. (It means "Ireland" btw.) I was almost named "Erin Leslie" but they liked the flow of "Leslie Erin" better. So here I am.

When I was little I used to wish I had been named Erin, because I thought it was a much prettier name. In some respects I still do... if I passed either of my names to a child of mine, it would be Erin (though possibly spelled "Eirann"). Leslie suits me though, and when it's pronounced correctly it really is a pretty name. My biggest problem with it, actually, is the pronunciation. For some reason people insist on saying "LEZ-lee"... you can imagine the lesbian jokes I put up with in middle school. :P The correct way to say it is "LESS-lee". It always seemed fairly obvious to me, and I always introduce myself as "LESS-lee" so sometimes it boggles me why no one can seem to say it. I gave up on correcting everyone a long time ago... it's just so ingrained in heads... I got used to it and it really didn't bother me much. Some of my friends say it correctly, but most people don't. Even Joe used to have it wrong... he was pretty embarrassed a couple of weeks into our relationship when I corrected him... having known me for over two years at that point. ;) He's become my strongest ambassador now, even correcting his whole family (which I realized when I noticed they were all saying "Hi Lez-LESSlie" every time they saw me). :) Oddly enough, ever since I corrected him, I've become less and less tolerant of "LEZ-lee". I guess it's just hearing him say it... there's nothing like the sound of your own name on the lips of the one you love. "I love you, Leslie Erin," he says, turning all of my internal organs to mush and renewing my love for the name my parents chose for me. :)

I always liked the fact that I don't have an overly popular name. There was a "Lesley" in my high school class, although she moved to another school. I met a few more in college, actually roomed with one freshman year. I don't mind other people having the same first name as me... that's to be expected... very few people in the world have COMPLETELY unique names. But I will admit, I was practically offended when there was another "Leslie Erin" who graduated with me this spring. "Leslie" I can share, but "Leslie Erin" is MY name, thank you very much.

Hmm... I didn't realize I had quite so much to say on my own name. ;) But, I do like it, and I think it fits me, and I like the fact that when somebody says "Hey Leslie!" in my presence they're almost guaranteed to be talking to me. I like that it's not common but not unheard of, it's not trendy (and hence, now dated), it's got at least one nice meaning, and it has a pretty sound. And I like the fact that I'm named after my dad, and that my middle name has special significance to my mom. :)

And I always liked that my initials spell a pronounceable (though meaningless) word, "LEM". When I marry Joe and drop my maiden name, I'll be "LEG", which is hilarious and for that reason, cool. :D

Probably a follow-up post on names later... since I talked so much about my name I never got to my favorite names. ;)