I just came across a name I have always liked and I wondered why. As a guy named Joe, I’ve always paid attention to interesting or attractive names, mine being so boring. I once asked my mother about it and she told me she always loved Joey for a little boy. Which makes sense. But every Joey I knew became Joe in high school, besides the Italian boys. But I understood.
In my father’s family there were six boys, and I would sometimes ask my friends to name the most common male anglo names they could think of in a top ten list and they would get all six every time. Now, I love all of my uncles (and aunts) but their names were glued to their era in the forties and fifties. And yet I have had a good friend with each of those names. Mike, Pete, Rob, John, Dave, Steve. Most of my best friends.
I once wrote a song about loss and I needed some ladies’ names. I asked my former wife which ones she liked and she gave me Beatirix, Millicent, and Daisy. Which I thought curious because she herself would correct people if they shortened her name and yet I am sure these women would have become Bea or Trixie or Millie.
In any case, I’ve since learned that our attachments to names are borne out of our associations to them. The housekeeping lady that is now re-doing my bed in a suite, I asked her name so I could leave her some cash at the front desk later, is named Angel. And she is sweet and possibly plain-looking in her uniform, but for a few minutes today, I am going to associate the name Angel with sweetness. And it fits!
These days Ann is a favourite name. And Judy. And Sue. And Lee-Ann. I am missing many but those are some thoughts for today.
Anyhow, if you listen to the song, that’s where the names came from. The sentiments were about real people but they were of my wife’s choosing and I wanted to give her something sweet.
https://joemacdonald.bandcamp.com/track/gone-for-good
Reema Kazi says
Simple but very sweet 🔆 keep writing Joe.