Thursday, June 10, 2010

Record your Life...Why I love (and hate) my name.

So...1977 was an interesting year for my parents. They found out they were going to have ME - their first born child...twins and boys at that! Or at least that was the story I've heard. I guess my mom was told by her doctor that she was carrying twins (the doctor thought he heard two heartbeats) and that it was boys (because of the slowness of the beats).

That was early in the pregnancy though and my parents later learned I was a girl...just one of me. By the time I was just about done baking, my parents decided to name me Dora Lynn (after my mom's older sister who had passed away a few years earlier, Doris, and my mom's middle name Lynn). Dora Lynn. They were going to call me Dori. And I would have been called Dorky Dori for all of my life. Or - been an airhead like Dori from Finding Nemo. Although, my dad swears if I had been twin boys he was going to name me Bozo and Zeke. I think Dorky Dori would have been better than that!

My mom went into labor and got to the hospital and had me within just a few hours (I guess women on her side of the family have quick births - even first-borns!). She called her younger sister and was sharing the excitement and all the details...how long I was, how much I weighed and that my parents were going to call me Casie.

Now - I was hours old at this point and couldn't know what my aunt said but I'm sure it went something like this:

Sandy: You're calling her what!?
Peggy: We're going to call her Casie. C-A-S-I-E, pronounced like Casey.
Sandy: Why in the heck are you doing that!?
Peggy: Well, we didn't want to call her Sandy and I don't like Cassie so we picked Casie.
Sandy: How in the world did you shorten Dora to Casie!?
Peggy: We didn't. We named her Cassandra Jean - after you.
Sandy: *sobbing, blubbery mess of tears*

Yep! Instead of being named after my mom's older sister, I was named after her younger one. Sandra Jean became Cassandra Jean, shortened to Casie for ease (and plenty of confusion in pronunciation).

Why do I love my name? It's a family name and while I might make fun of my aunt (she is truly an airhead!) I love her to pieces and there is no one else I'd rather be named after. Why do I hate my name? Most people look at it and immediately think Cassie - there is only ONE 'S' people! That makes it CASIE. Like Casey. Like the boys name. I often wish my mom had spelled it the boys way too... But I love my name. It's unique but not totally off the wall either.

Cassandra Jean - that's me.

7 comments:

  1. That is such a great story! Damn the unique-ness huh? For me, Daisy was unique enough, they had to go spell it funky {Daisie}. I am excited to learn more about you in the coming weeks!
    Daisie

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  2. Ha ha! I was supposed to be twins too because my mother was so big! And I totally relate to the love/hate name thing! I just glad I grew up and realized that my name is perfect for me!!

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  3. I must admit, I read it as "Cassie"! :o)

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  4. How sweet! My sister named her second daughter after me, and it was a very humbling thing. I love that there is another Mollianne in our family.

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  5. I love your name. I would love to name a baby girl Cassandra, or Casie. And the middle name pulls it all together beautifully!

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  6. I love that there was such a progression to get to your name! I can understand your spelling frustration, though I probably don't suffer as much as you, but I'm often called Annie instead of Anne (the e is silent) and it drives me batty! Nothing against the Annies out there (or Cassies) but that's not us!

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  7. Ah! I'm glad your settled into your very special name.

    Casie, I'm so glad you are joining us. Please email at jannajoy25 (at) hotmail.com with an email address I can use to send you some more info about the project.

    Also, please link up with group 6 next week instead of group 1. I look forward to hearing more from the girl that was almost Dorky Dori:)

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