Freewrite 4: My Name

To understand my name, I need to go back a generation. My grandparents, George and Annabelle, had the brilliant idea of combining their names into one: Georgianna. My mother hated it. While other girls had cute names like Cindy and Kathy, she had this ten letter monstrosity of a name. (Personally, I like it, although I am not too big of a fan of naming your children after yourself). Because of her own name-hatred, my mother insisted that my siblings and I all received painstakingly normal (and Biblical) names. John, Steven, and Sarah. Although it is quite common, the need for a nickname never arose. Then I came to Olin. Last weekend, at the OCF retreat, there were four Sarahs in one cabin. We made up one quarter of the population. The need for a nickname has come. Unfortunately, nicknames are much more elusive than you might expect. At least that is what it seems like at the moment. A few names have been proposed: Gecko because it rhymes with my last name. Lucy, short for Lucifer because the sign my SIBB made for me could easily be misread as “Satan” rather than Sarah. Origins aside, I wouldn’t mind Lucy. Gecko would be fine with me as well. So far, neither of them have seemed to stick. For now, I am perfectly content with the confusion that comes with Sarah.

This is such a beautifully composed Freewrite, Gecko! Sadly, a pop-up is blocking your grandparents' combined name, but they sound like creative people! It's funny to me how we tend to do things in reaction to our own parents, when we become parents...

I like Georgianna, actually. But that aside, the nickname occasion is amusing. I would like to see this Satan/Sarah sign. It sounds quite humorous. Was it devilishly themed, or just the script on the poster was difficult to read?

Nice free-writing. It flows quite nicely goes through your name well. It's interesting that you like the name Sarah although it is so common. Some people really dislike having common names, so nicknames sprout up faster. I guess you have no need for one. I am all in favor of Gecko though.

I agree about the Georgianna... monstrosity is a good way to put it. Georgina, maybe, but only if you're Italian.

I definitely see how the need for a nickname would arise from duress at having 4 Sarahs in one cabin... I recall having 6 Michaels in one class. Fortunately none of their last names started with the same letter, so it was just "Michael T.," "Michael P.," "Michael G.," etc and so forth...

I vote Gecko!
I love your grandparent's couple name, it's adorable. Are these the same set of grandparents who you were loosely basing your manuscript on?? They seem adorable.