Here's another funny thing about me: I spent my pre-married life considerably concerned about my future name. Really! This was no laughing matter. Hehe. (Ok, I still laughed about it. :)) I had always really loved my name and, after a lifetime of such satisfaction from a great name, the idea that it could turn into anything, and [gasp!] maybe something horrible was terribly nauseating.
I didn't fail to consider that I wouldn't have to change my name.... And if I thought we'd never have kids, maybe that wouldn't have seemed like a weird idea. But a family with multiple names going on just wasn't what I wanted. So, I figured, I'd be stuck. Dreadfully stuck!
[I did fail to consider that I might marry someone as cool as Matt! Hehe. Someone so unafraid to buck tradition to volunteer: "Auburn, seriously, if you don't want to take my name, but you want us to have the same name, I can take yours! Seriously! I'll do it!" If Matt Golding weren't lame, I might have gone for it.... Matthew Williams is much more aesthetic. Hehe. Plus, I'm not sure he could appreciate what a relief it was to know I was changing my name to Williams and not something terrible. But, really, Matt is cool! Very, very cool.]
In my years of fretting over this, I signed "Auburn" with every last name I could think of. Ha ha! Pages and pages of not just my name, but my name with a billion other names! Just to get a sense.... How does my name sound with other surnames? What do I need to fear? Who do I need to say no to when he asks me on a date? HAHA!!
I figured to fall in love with someone and then not marry him because of his name would be pretty lame (not to mention ridiculous and impossible). But to just...not get to know him at all...? So that I never run the risk of becoming Auburn Hickenlooper...? Perfectly acceptable. Hehe.
So, now you know: if I know you, I probably signed my name with your name! Not because I wanted to marry you. ;) (I hope that's obvious.... :)) Just because it was a name floating around in the universe, potentially mine some day.
Names I feared with all my soul!:
Auburn Roberts (Say it.... Just try to say it....)
Auburn Burns (hehe—yep, got that one from you Janelle! :)) (a fine name if you're not named Auburn :))
Auburn Oberdorfer or anything else similarly German (not a blanket distaste for all German—but there are a lot of yuckies out there :)) (and yes, I saw someone with that last name once!)
Auburn Hickenbocker (I'm not sure if this name exists, but it's always what my mom says when she makes up a last name! :))
Auburn anything-that-sounds-crass (And there are a lot out there to fear! I'd change it. I really would.... Go through family history, and surnames made alterations all the time. Why not now...?)
Auburn Johnson (I don't know, it just seemed so possible for being so common, and it just doesn't sound that good....)
Auburn Brown (Another common one! AAAAHHHH!!! Auburn Brown? Oh, how awful.)
Names I thought sounded good:
Three syllables. My very favorite? Even before Matt? Auburn Williamson. Seriously! (Maybe we should just add a syllable!) Other favorites were a plethora of Spanish names, like Auburn Morales, and other cool-sounding beauties.
My other great hope, in addition to Auburn Williamson: that I find someone unrelated to me whose name happened to be Golding. HAHAHA!! Oh, the beauty.
Common names I didn't fear:
Auburn Smith.
Auburn Williams. (I really had given Auburn Williams some thought! Thought it was a goodie.... :))
Auburn Jones.
(The other two in the top five are Johnson and Brown, on my fear list. :))
If I ever run for public office—which I continually joke I'd like to do someday (hehe)—I might have to seriously consider billing myself as Auburn Golding again. That's got some star-power. :) But, whew! All that worrying, and I end up with Williams! I'll take it. Thank you, Fate! :)
P.S. Williams, you make it difficult to find good boy names that don't sound totally generic. But I still like you. :)
5 comments:
You are funny. I went to elem. school with Matt Goulding (pronounced like yours). And it's a good thing you didn't marry one of my brothers. You would have been obbernnnagel forever.
Haha! I forgot about that! I had a great fear of N-names! Obbernnnagel is pretty bad. HAHAHA! It makes me think pumpernickel. :)
Also, Goulding with a u always looked SO dreadful to me. I felt so sorry for those folks! Thanked my lucky stars we were Goldings. :-)
HAHA! How about Auburn Steinberg? j/k I remember you loving your "Auburn Golding" name. Both are good ones.
I didn't fret too much about my future last name, as I would the first name of my future husband. Glad I liked "Cory". On the absolutely will not marry list were "Edgar", "Harry", "Lloyd", "Eli", "Levi"....you get the picture. Yes, I was (am?) that vain. ha!
You are too funny, Janelle! Haha! I am with you 1000%. I remember rooming for a little while with a girl who was totally in love with a guy named Larry. She just couldn't wait for him to propose. And every time she brought it up, I couldn't help but think, seriously? Larry? You're actually in love with a guy named...Larry? Hehe. Edgar, Harry and Lloyd are goodies! Haha! (My mom likes Eli and Levi, and suggests them every time we talk about boy names—which has been frequently the past few years! Eli I can tolerate better than Levi. LEVI? It works in the Bible.... That's about all. And Eli doesn't get my vote either! :))
And hey, no joke, I've thought many a time that Janelle Steinberg is an AWESOME name! And I don't often notice that I think someone's name is awesome. You lucked out! :)
Haha! Thanks, Auburn!
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