The Old Folks Home

[JW12]

I love fresh ripe tomatoes. Mayo tomatoes and white bread. Doesn't get any better than that!

One of my summer favorites! I go crazy sometimes and throw a slice of cheese on it every now and then lol

 

[JW12]

I am Cherokee and German. My last name is still very very German lol. They came to America when they were promised land if they settled it. No one told them it was the smokeys in the Appalachian mountains they would be settling lol then 4 generations back that is where the Cherokee came in

 

[Bunnylady]

I went from a Dutch name with a confusing double vowel to a Bohemian name with an almost unpronounceable consonant combination when I wed. I long ago grew accustomed to seeing people look at a form, say, "Ms. . . . . . ." and finish weakly with my first name and a question mark.

And I just got to do a little snake massage, a la Wisher. When I was just out checking to make sure everybody had water, I discovered a 5-foot green Rat Snake stuck in a cage with a couple of Cochin hens. The snake had gotten in through the 1"x 2" openings in the wire, stolen a meal, and then couldn't fit through the wire again (which is why I keep rabbit does with litters in cages with 1/2" x 1" wire . . .

). Unfortunately for the snake, 2 of the 3 items he ate were golf balls, so I had to retrieve them. Sorry, snakey dude. Go back to rats and mice - they're safer!

 

[ronott1]

My 10 letter last name is also very unique and often butchered. I am one of three in the US - my parents are the other two.

I got married in 2006 to a man with the last name of Clark. Suddenly I went from incredibly unique to incredibly not.

In 2007 I was new on my job and a couple weeks into it - still training - when the secretary comes out and tells me I have a phone call. Confused, but accepting, I took the call. The person at the other end tells me I need a physical and tells me when and where to report. I'm polite, but trying to figure out why I need a physical. I told him I just had one at work to start my job. He tells me that doesn't count. So I tell him I'll be there, and then I ask him what this is about. He tells me it's about my deployment.

"My deployment? To where??"

"Afghanistan."

This is where my panic attack began.

"I know I signed a lot of paperwork when I started this but I'm pretty sure you can't do this to me without my consent."

"Ma'am you signed your consent away."

What seemed like an hour into the argument, another coworker leaned over and said "there's two people with your name that also work here."

I managed to clarify with the man on the other end that he was indeed not looking for me with that name, but someone else who was likely more expectant of being deployed.

Growing up with the name I had it never occurred to me that I could be confused for someone else. That's just not in my genetic code.

When I got divorced I happily snatched my maiden name back up.

My last name is not very common either. I have never met someone with the same last name that was not a relative.

I have been confused with my Father though--Sucks being a Junior sometimes.

 

[Peep_Show]

German and English extraction on Mom's side (although the English have been in CT since the 1600's); Welsh and English on Dad's side.
A cousin of sorts was doing the family tree on Mom's maternal familial side (my grandmonther was one of seven children, so there's many offshoot cousins) and got stuck at Mom's and her husband's father's grandfather, said there were no records about him anywhere. Well, wouldn't you know, I had his fraktur (ornate baptismal record) on my wall so I filled in the pieces of who was who borne of what/where/when and even though written in German and that style of writing where s's look like f's, I managed to get her the information so she could continue on with the family tree. Mom's grandfather, it appears, Anglicized his name upon enlistment for the Civil War from Mueller (PA German) to Miller and then moved to a whole 'nother life in CA after his discharge. It was fortuitous that Mom was such a pack rat and kept stuff like old frakturs and discharge papers....made it a lot easier to do forensics, especially since she's not around anymore to ask.

Ancestry.com is kind of fun to peruse, but rather incomplete on certain items..... I find it fascinating to talk to the elders and pick out some nuggets that might otherwise be lost for eternity.

 

[Peep_Show]

The first time I got married got REAL confusing because even though it's a specialize profession with a few thousand people in it, there was somebody else with my exact name spelling AND middle name and a not too sterling record. When I got divorced I went back to my maiden name and there's only one other person with a similar name and initial in the USA, but the initial stands for something different AND they're an honorable person a whole continent away. The funny thing is I googled her and we share many, many, many of the same interests. Hmmmm..... does that make *me* the evil twin?

 

[dsqard]

Ron you bringing up the juniors reminds me of my father. His name was Phillip Carleton Sturtevant, Jr. It was quite the name to bestow on such a loveable and yet somewhat reclusive man. If my sister had been a boy (she was the oldest) she would have been Phillip Carleton Sturtevant III. Now that would have been a mouthful to bestow on such a person as my sister although I wonder if things would have turned out differently had she been a boy and had that name. One never knows.

Anyway, by the time my brother rolled around, they had disposed of the "III" idea and gave him his own name. When I was pregnant with DS I told my then husband he would not be a junior. We selected a similar first name and the same middle name. I figured that was close enough. Now when I divorced I kept my first husband's last name to avoid confusion with the schools and the kids and kept the first married name even after I married DH. I intended to change my last name to his after the kids were grown but honestly after the youngest was out of public school, I really didn't feel like going through the huge hassle of changing everything over and in some ways keeping it this way feels less restrictive. I am not a Sturtevant any more, I am not a McPhillips by birth or marriage any more, and I opt not to be a Wilson. It almost feels like I am getting to choose which last name I have. Besides with such an Irish name as Deirdre, who wouldn't keep McPhillips although I don't think I have much if any real Irish blood in me. I am much more of a Heinz 57 than a pureblood although the kids have a bunch of Irish in them now from their dad.

 

[chickisoup]

My mom was a beautiful pure Irish lass right down to the red hair and Irish temper. My dad was German/Bohemian. Talk about fire and water!!!

Lets just say my poor dad was really lucky my mom didn't like cast iron! Did you know you could throw a toaster like a curve ball? Neither did my dad.

Poor guy had a headache for days.
It could take my mom 3 paragraphs to say hello but if my dad ever put 2 sentences together at once you knew you were in big trouble!

 

[Teila]

I feel like i know u people who shared the meanings of ur screen names better. Thank u all for sharing. There are still quite a few who didnt chime in.

I was born in Deal, Kent, United Kingdom and my parents packed up and shipped the family to Australia when I was 7 years old ... 44 years ago.

Anyway, the name they gave me has undesirable connotations in Australia and after suffering through the comments and replying with the sarcastic retort of "gees, I haven't heard that one before" a friend's son couldn't pronounce my name and started calling me Teila. Over a period of years, this stuck and spread and I now have friends, colleagues etc who have no idea that it is not my birth name.

 

[ronott1]

Ron you bringing up the juniors reminds me of my father. His name was Phillip Carleton Sturtevant, Jr. It was quite the name to bestow on such a loveable and yet somewhat reclusive man. If my sister had been a boy (she was the oldest) she would have been Phillip Carleton Sturtevant III. Now that would have been a mouthful to bestow on such a person as my sister although I wonder if things would have turned out differently had she been a boy and had that name. One never knows.

Anyway, by the time my brother rolled around, they had disposed of the "III" idea and gave him his own name. When I was pregnant with DS I told my then husband he would not be a junior. We selected a similar first name and the same middle name. I figured that was close enough. Now when I divorced I kept my first husband's last name to avoid confusion with the schools and the kids and kept the first married name even after I married DH. I intended to change my last name to his after the kids were grown but honestly after the youngest was out of public school, I really didn't feel like going through the huge hassle of changing everything over and in some ways keeping it this way feels less restrictive. I am not a Sturtevant any more, I am not a McPhillips by birth or marriage any more, and I opt not to be a Wilson. It almost feels like I am getting to choose which last name I have. Besides with such an Irish name as Deirdre, who wouldn't keep McPhillips although I don't think I have much if any real Irish blood in me. I am much more of a Heinz 57 than a pureblood although the kids have a bunch of Irish in them now from their dad.

Yes, Ronald David Ottman Junior.

You would be surprised how many cannot pronounce Ottman. It sounds like it is spelled.