You can call me Al.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

I've never liked my name much. I've made my peace with it, but I just still have no idea where my parents came up with Beverly as a name for me. I mean, Beverly is kind of an old-lady name. It's not Agnes or Mildred or anything, but it's up there. I have one of those baby name books left over from when I was trying to think of wtf to name my children, and it is supposed to tell you what other people think of your name. Like we care, right? But anyway, the general consensus of that book was that, for many people, my name conjures images of overweight waitresses.

NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT. Ha.

My sister has vivid memories of being six years old and voicing her objection to my parents' choice of names for me, before I was born. If only they'd listened to her! I will say that as a kid, my classmates were hard-pressed to come up with a terrible nickname for me, apart from Beverly Hillbilly (clever) and, once puberty hit, Beverly's Hills. What can I say? I've got jugs. (shrug)

I am a huuuuge fan of nicknames. Once I like someone, one of the first things I do is to come up with something goofy to call them. Hey, we all have our quirks, and that is one of mine... and that's just scratchin' the surface. Sometime in the mid-90's I dubbed myself bevtastic and it has been my email moniker ever since. I also answer to Bev (duh), Bevy, Bevster, The Bev, Bevelaqua, and... wait for it... Beaver. Yeah. Whatever. My name actually means "From the Beaver meadow," so the fact that it's also a euphemism for the nether regions doesn't bother me too much. Besides, I'm kind of a dirty minded little freak, so it's all good in the hood. ;)

Recently I took one of those FB quizzes which asked: if you could change your name, what would you change it to? I was stumped. I had no answer at all! For all that I don't care for my name, I don't know what I'd change it to if I was so inclined.





So, I guess I'm gonna stick with being the Beav.





What about you? Do you like your name? If you could change it, what would you change it to?