It's Her Name, and Her Name
We knew when we picked her name that it wasn't the most original one of all time, but I didn't really expect Alexis to have a name twin in her daycare class so soon. Yet, she recently gained one, which has led to a bit of an identity crisis.
Earlier today, just like every day, I was asking Alexis how school was. I go through a whole parade of questions, including "Did anybody go to time out?" I ask that question because it's a good opportunity to talk about why it's not nice to hit, pinch, kick, push, lick, and any of the other things that the kids do to each other that lands them in Toddler Purgatory. Alexis ALWAYS sells out her classmates, and while she's at it, she tattles on herself, too. So, it wasn't really a shock when she said, "Alexis go to time out."
I figured I should clarify whether she meant herself or the other Alexis. "Did you go to time out?" That's when the crisis set in.
"No, Alexis go to time out."
"So, the other Alexis went to time out."
"No, I go to time out."
"Why did you go to time out?"
"Alexis scratched Joe."
"You scratched Joe?"
"No, Alexis scratched Joe."
"Other Alexis scratched Joe?"
"No, Alexis scratched Joe."
"Alexis, were you the one that was mean to Joe?"
"Yes, Alexis was mean."
"You Alexis? Or other Alexis"
"Alexis. Alexis was mean."
And on and on and on. I felt like I was Costello and Abbot was refusing to tell me who was on first. In fact, after 20 minutes of conversation, I still don't actually know who, if anybody, was beating up other kids in daycare today.
Suddenly I understand how it is that people name their kid something like "Apple." Actually, no I don't. Then the identity crisis would be with a piece of fruit.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Reader Comments (30)
this is why i was so horrified to find all these other blogging janets! i had been practically the only one my whole life!!!!
just wait till she and all the other little alexises (alexi?) are known not by their single name but their name plus the initial of their last name.
alexis r.
alexis p.
alexis d.
etc.
yuck.
I had FOUR Kelley's of various spellings in my 4th grade class.
And my kids, who had fairly unusual names, have all had the indignation of being known as ____ H. Sucks.
That picture speaks to me.
When we were picking out names this was totally on my mind.
So far, no other name twins in their classes, but it's coming, especially for Oliver.
Their biggest crisis is over having a dog named Penguin. And books about penguins. And a hockey team. It's a mess.
You know, when Luke was born I had two other names in mind but there were kids in the church with those names already and that would have been awkward. They've since moved on, and we've gotten new families. Now? There are 3 Luke's near his age. Luke B, Luke C, and Luke D. Being boys, though, they find it amusing. The whole "you're in trouble factor" gets shifted quite nicely.
We've been pretty lucky so far. The Boy has had a name twin but The Girl has not...yet. Shocking, actually, but good!
At least you didn't name her Moon Unit.
My kids names were pretty ordinary, or so I thought: Stephanie and Sean. But there was rarely another Stephanie in her classes, and other Seans spelled their names Shawn or Shaun. So it was all good. The worst problem we had with Sean's name was those who (a) didn't know how to pronounce it and said "Seen" or (b) Southern relatives who pronounced it "Shone."
*sigh* I could've gone with pomegranate!
Thankfully no name twins for my kids yet....i'm sure one will be in Lucas' future though as it seems everywhere else we go we run into one
I never, not once, had another Julie in school or at work until this most recent job....it is annoying, I have to say. People are always calling her name (she is a supervisor and has been there 20 years) and it's my name too - very distracting!
I have ALWAYS hated this! I shared my name with 5 others during high school and that was in just MY class! I played the odds with the kids. Everyone wants to have a unique name now so I was counting on there being so many "unique" names that my somewhat ordinary ones would stand out like sore thumbs. So far, so good!
Once little A establishes the proper use of pronouns this should all go away...
Hilarious! When I had my Em, NO ONE named their child Emma. It was an old name. I think by the end of that year it was the number one name and 1.2 million kids in the US had it. Bummer ;(
*snort* a piece of fruit *snort*
This was really funny to me - as a Jennifer born in the 70's! Jenny, Jenny B, Jennifer, Jen, Jenga - I'm not sure who I am. I thought Dylan was somewhat unique, but now I'm hearing it everywhere.
P.S. How did it go last night? Hope it was fun.
I never had that problem, and still don't. Although, as a kid I was one of those teens who hated being different, and having a "different" name just didn't seem cool to me.
The other thing I never really liked was that, on many occasions, people would approach me and say "I had an aunt named Irene". And I would say - let me guess, she died?is in her 80's They would either say "Yes!" or "Yes, but she died."
Poor A. She's got identity issues. Knute has yet to meet a "real" Knute.
Who's on first? My twins decided they both were Thing 1 once. They called each other the same name. So one day I said to Thing 2, if you are Thing 1, then who is he? (pointing at his twin) "Thing 1 Do It", he said.
We thought we had an unusual name for our daughter ... Vivian. We like it, it's a family name, and not common. Perfect. And then Angelina comes along and names one of her twins Vivienne. She better not be starting a trend here ...
Now that is hilarious. Love the comment about the fruit identity crisis :)
Hmm. Strangely, I've never had this problem. You'd think with a name as common as mine I'd go crazy trying to sort things out. But no. Never in class with another Flea. Go figure.
Mae and Oliver haven't had this problem yet either. Not sure they like that, though.
Now this was a great post. Totally laughing through it.
Bad news for you... I know a BUNCH of Alexis' in my elementary school :(
This story was why we said we wouldn't choose a name within the top 500 of Social Security top names from their birth year.
My husband and my my names are not in the top 1000 either. Strangely enough I have found about 6 other bloggers that share my first name. Very, very strange.
Apple is the effing stupidest name ever. Well - not quite. Jason Lee (whoever the hell that is - I take it he's supposed to be a celebrity) named his kid Pilot Inspector. That is the stupidest name ever.
Alexis is hawt.
I have a Tayton and a Korbin and haven't had any problems of another kidlet in their school with their names but we have run into a couple Korbins outside of school, usually with a "c". I'm pretty sure Tayton's safe....for now. Maybe we started a new trend?
On our list of names we did have some fruits and vegetables and of course cheeses. Colby, Kiwi and Corn were on the top of our lists. Or not....
Both Boy-Child#2 and Girl-Child have someone in their class with the same name. Fortunately the other girl goes by the nickname of their names. Poor Boy-Child#2, no nicknames plus they both have the same last initial. So he goes by his full name.
Lol Very confusing. You'd think they'd add a surname initial to help tell them apart and that the kids would pick up on it.
too cute! All our preschoolers are sell outs too. They're too little to figure out that it's not in their best interests to sell themselves out but they're catching on.
I purposely picked names for my girls that I thought no one else had. I didn't think ahead to the all the personalized junk everywhere - the cups, pens, keychains, etc. that they miss out on. My oldest loved that there was never anyone in her elementary school let alone in her class with her name but she found out there are three other Baileys in her middle school and she can't stand it. I still love their names and remember the hard time everyone gave us for choosing such "weird names.
When we had Bug, we actually let Jock name him. Granted, it was a controlled choice, having presented him with a name I liked, a name Coach liked, and one we could both "hear" sounding good. That was the one Jock chose.
Turns out, that name has been on the list of most popular boy names for YEARS!!!!! And so Bug refuses, flat out refuses, to let anyone use the shortened version. Somehow, that separates him from the inevitable other "Bug" in his class or on his team.
That does sound like an Abbot and Costello bit! How frustrating! Hopefully it will get better when she starts to get pronouns down.
We thought about this when naming the Pumpkin (which obviously isn't her real name). We picked something not unusual but not very common. I think it's perfect. But there will likely be others somewhere with the same name.
I love your take on this--as I do with most things, sorry that I hardly ever comment!
Deeder was supposed to be Dylan Dale until Darren told me that most of the 5 to 12 year olds at the Psych unit where he worked were named Dylan. Eh heh--count that name out.