Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Amy, Amy, Amy: It's Book Club Day!

This post is inspired by mystery thriller GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn. They may not have the perfect marriage, but after Amy goes missing, Nick becomes the number one suspect. Can he discover what happened before it's too late? Join From Left to Write on June 12 as we discuss Gone Girl. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes. I've always been obsessed with names, and reading a book with my name as the main character is quite a trip-especially when the main character is as perfect (ahem...) as this one seems to be! I've had ups and downs with my names over the years. As a little girl, I always had several Amys in my class-being blessed with a very popular 1970's name does that to you. I was either "little Amy" or "Amy B.". I wished my parents had named me something more "exotic", like Amelia. I wanted to stand out more from the crowd-Amy Brown doesn't stand out very much! In college, my room mate and good friend was named Amy, too, so I became "Brownie". I loved it! For the first time, I felt different. When people talked about Brownie, I knew they meant me! There actually was one other Brownie on my campus, but he was a boy-so that didn't count. Which was good, since there was another Amy Brown at UCSB, and one quarter, the administrative offices made a mistake and gave her all my units! That was a nightmare to remedy! Ugh! I couldn't wait to get married and change my name one day! After graduation, I moved back home (thinking only for awhile while I job hunted in San Francisco). I started substitute teaching and ending up getting my own classroom, so I became Miss Brown. I also started dating Joe, and fell in love with his family. His little niece called me "A-E", which melted my heart. Joe called me "Aim or "honey"...and I started realizing my name wasn't so bad. I liked how it sounded being said by my loved ones. I ended up marrying Joe-whose last name is Brown-so Amy Brown I became for good! The name I couldn't wait to change-now will be mine permanently. Funny how life can be! Now I am called by many names-Mommy being my fav, Honey, Aunt Amy, Mrs. Brown, Spencer's mom, Brownie (by my college friends), etc. I like my name-it suits me-nothing fancy, easy to read and spell (which, being a teacher, I have seen how hard it can be to have that "exotic" name), but I know I am much more than my name. Though, when naming my own children, I did give them names that stand out more-Spencer, Cooper, Kendall. While 2 of those have become more popular, they still have the luxury being the only of that name (most of the time). That being said, I feel partial to characters with the same name as me-I have a soft spot, though the author does such a great job describing this Amy-I wish I didn't share a name with her! What about you? Are you partial to characters with your name? Or any other name?

3 comments:

Eunice said...

I love the name Amy. I have never met a non-nice Amy so I think the name is a great one. My name is terrible so I've always envied people with normal names! Grass is greener!

Bren said...

I totally understand, Amy, about not wanting a common name. I have hated Brenda all my life. I wanted to give my children very unusual names in reaction. I was successful with one but named the other after my husband which was soooooooooo common.

Thien-Kim aka Kim said...

Sometimes exotic names isn't all that. No one in my small Louisiana town could pronounce the "Thien" part of my name. Even when I graduated high school.