What's in a name?
They warned me.
It was two weeks before I started working at The Janesville Gazette. I went to a staff holiday party at Main Street, and I wasn't there 10 minutes when reporter Marcia Nelesen said, "You're going to have to change your byline. Everyone's going to confuse you with Anna Marie Lux."
And they do.
Those who like the outdoors are probably familiar with Anna's columns. I can't point you to them here, because they only run in the print paper. So grab a paper and check her out.
Once a week or so, Anna and I get a message intended for the other person. Sources mix us up. Gazette employees do. So do drunk people at bars.
Just this afternoon, a source called reporter Stacy Vogel after talking to me. He asked Stacy if Anna got married and changed her name.
I get that one a lot.
Despite the confusion, it was never an option to change my name. Using my whole first name is a habit that was pounded into my brain by my family.
Every day on the first day of school--from kindergarten to college--my mom would say, "Remember, tell your teachers you're 'Ann Marie' and not 'Ann.'
If someone called and asked for 'Ann,' Mom or Grandma were known to say, "No one by that name lives here," and hang up.
Still, about 90 percent of the kids I went to school with called me 'Ann.' One out of 10 teachers did, too. Even today, people often ask if they can call me 'Ann.' I don't know why there's such a resistance to two names. Is it that hard?
It wasn't until I got to college and into the job force that 'Ann Marie' finally stuck.
In "East of Eden," my favorite author, John Steinbeck, wrote, "Names are a great mystery. I've never known whether the name is molded by the child or the child changed to fit the name. But you can be sure of this--whenever a human has a nickname, it is a proof that the name given him was wrong."
I did have one nickname that was family approved. See, "Ann Marie" is really hard for toddlers to figure out. When my brother, Rob, was learning to talk, he called me ... well, I don't know how to spell it, but it sounded like "A Mee Eye." Later, it became Mee Mo My.
So, when my youngest brother, Andy, was learning to talk, Dad told him, "Let's just call her 'Sis.'"
It stuck.
Maybe I should use that as a byline. Who's going to confuse "Sis" with anyone else?
Jul 9, 2008 at 9:21 p.m.
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I agree with John Steinbeck. After teaching for almost 21 years, there are some names I would never name a child. Some names just mean trouble no matter who has it. lol
Jul 9, 2008 at 5:46 p.m.
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I was "Rosie" until I moved to Wisconsin. then, for no reason whatsoever, I was magically just "Rose".
So, when Stan would answer the phone and the caller asked for Rosie, he'd hand the phone to me and say, "I don't know who it is, but they're from Michigan." :)
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