Wednesday, April 16, 2008

What's in a name?

At FNDC the other night there were two Paul's and, about two months ago, when I first started attending FNDC's, there were two Will's. I couldn't help but think, it must get frustrating to have to share your name with others on such a regular basis. Because, often you're not just referred to by your name, there's always some other identifier attached to it - an identifier you may or may not like. Then I remembered, in college, there was a point when 3 of my sorority sisters were all dating guys named Matt (and, if I remember correctly, all 3 girls lived on the same floor of the house, along with another sister who had a younger brother, named Matt, at a neighbouring college who called occasionally... that made for fun times all around). Not to mention, we also had at 2 Diana's, 2 Monica's and at one point, 4 Nicole's.

In considering this, I gained renewed appreciation for the relative uniqueness of my name. Despite the fact that there's a group on facebook dedicated to Roxanne's (it's called, "yes, my name's Roxanne, and no, I'm not a hooker" - get it?) with over 800 members, I've only ever met one other Roxanne and that was about two years ago... she was 5. It's peculiar though, because it's not as though the name Roxanne is all that unusual. Practically everyone I meet seems to know the Police song (and gleefully sings it to me as if I couldn't possibly have heard it before... c'mon, the song is as old as I am!) and I've even a had few "original" new acquaintances burst into UTFO's rap song (and yes, that song is also almost as old as me). It used to annoy me but now I just find it mildly entertaining. In truth, I'm really waiting to meet someone who can give me a really great Sting impression or perform the Moulin Rouge version... my personal favourite. (Although, the idea of all the boys singing, 'Roxie', a la Chicago, doesn't sound to bad either. :P)



Oh, and if you thought it just an early 80's song fad, leave it to Puffy/P. Diddy/whatever-the-hell-he-wants-to-call-himself to try to put a (relatively) new twist on it...

1 comment:

Fun and Fearless in Beantown said...

I loved when I hear "Michelle Lee" like the soap actress? Yes, my parents decided to name me after a soap star...Or singing "Michelle, my belle."