Hi there
When I was intermediate school age my friends and I were at the beach. With my mother, who sat a discreet distance away because we had begged her to pretend she didn't know us. But mothers have magnifcent hearing and I was sure she was listening. After a time though, she tootled off along the sand. I guessed she was "promenade-ing".
Shirley gave a long pre-teen sigh, and said she hated her name. "There are two other Shirleys in the class," she moaned. "Every one of us named after Shirley Temple."
"I hate my name too," said Nicky.
"Nicky?" I queried. "I like that name."
"It's good," agreed Shirley. Cynthia and Linda nodded.
"No, my name stinks," said Nicky.
Mum interrupted us with five ice creams, all dripping down her wrists and brought across the road from the Worser Bay dairy.
"Is Nicky your real name, Nicks?" she asked.
"Of course it's her real name," I said.
"Um,," Nicky's ears went red.
We waited....
"It's ... Victoria."
Shirley, Linda, Cynthia, and me. well, we all sat there open- mouthed.
"That's a nice name," said Mum diplomatically.
We four kids rolled on the sand in hysterics. "That's a terrible name," laughed Linda.
"The worst," said Cynthia.
"It's worse than 'Shirley'".
Why are you lot laughing? Mum said.
"Oh, Mum...". I rolled up into a sitting position, still giggling. "It's an old maid's name. You know, a spinster's name? Like ...like .... Mable..."
"And Edith," said Shirley.
"And Matilda," said Linda.
"Like Agnes." Even Nicky had joined in.
And here's where the years have gone by ... And gone by ... And gone by....
Today, Victoria, Mabel, Edith, Agnes, and Matilda, are not even thought about as 'old maid' names. They are trendy, cool, the tippy-tip of great names for daughters. Whenever an old-fashioned name is mentioned, I still visualise a vicar's middle-aged frumpy dependent daughter sitting by the fireplace, darning socks, and obeying her elderly parents' every wish...
