Friday Five

(This is last week, which I missed in the Pidge flutterings.)

1. Are you named after anyone? If so, explain.

Nope, Linda was just one of the big names in the late 1940s-1950s. I would have either been Linda or Barbara. I have a cousin Linda a little older than me, my cousin Jimmy married a girl named Linda (again, both little older than me), but they divorced. I was in first grade with two other girls named Linda, Linda Azzoli and Linda Lonardo. My 11th-grade English teacher, who was probably born late 40s or early 50s, was Linda Lorenzo. I have a close friend named Linda, known by "Lin," who's my age.

2. Do you have your children's names picked out already? If so, is there any significance?

"Did we" is the operative verb here. Never did manage that one. A boy would have been James Michael after James and my dad (so there wouldn't be a junior). I guess he could have been Jamie or Mike (I've never been all that fond of "Jim," for all that there's a lot of men I like with that name!) A girl would have been Christina Kathryn after Christina in Flambards and Kathryn because James liked the name.

3. If you were born a member of the opposite sex what would your name have been?

Probably Michael John, after my dad. Or maybe Vincenzo or Simone after one of my grandfathers. (For some reason my dad's father Vincenzo was known to his buddies as "Jimmy." Never figured that one out.)

4. If you could re-name yourself what name would you pick and why?

I don't know. I never did much like Linda. I remember when I first heard "Melissa" I thought it was a lovely name, but then everyone started being "Melissa" and it was a bit of a cliche. I always liked the nickname "Lissa" better than "Missy," though. I've always thought Elizabeth and Katherine (Kathryn) were great names because there are so many nicknames for each you can pick one that best represents you: Liz, Beth, Bess, Betsy, Betty, Elspeth, Eliza, Lis, and Kate, Katie, Kathy, Kit, Rynn... (Sometimes different nicknames depending on who knows you: I have a friend known to all her contemporaries as "Liz" but her mom always called her "Betty.")

5. Are there any mispronunciations/typos that people do w/ your name constantly?

I'm not sure if it's my allergies or if I still do have a "nasal Cranston whine," but on the telephone people are always mistaking me as "Brenda" or "Wendy." I try to carefully pronounce it when I have a minute but sometimes there just isn't time.

Especially in the 1960s, everyone wanted to spell my name with a "Y" because of the President's family. I had to always add, "NOT like Lynda Bird Johnson."

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:53:00 AM

Comments:

Hi, I was just Googling my name to find out what has accumulated on the web and I found your journal. Thanks for even remembering your eleventh grade teacher...and for making me younger than I am. I was born in the early 40s and the name was very common at that time because of a popular song of the same name. I had 5 friends in my college class all named Linda. It's one of the reasons I go the nickname Renzo.

Linda Lorenzo

# posted by  Ren : 7:47:00 AM

 

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