#Reverb10 December 23rd

The Prompt: New name. Let's meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why?

I used to do this all the time, when strange men asked me my name in a bar and I thought they were creepy, I told them my name was Amanda.

When I was a kid I wanted to change my name. I wanted it to be something fun, something different. Nothing strange - I wasn't looking to be named Apple or Coco or Ryder or Brooklyn or any of these other names celebrities seem to think are OK to give a helpless child.  People, have you ever heard of the 3rd grader test? Take the name you want to give your child out to a playground full of 3rd graders, and tell it to them. If they immediately find was to make fun of it, FORGET THE NAME.

I thought my name was boring. I wanted to be Emma, or Allison, or go by my middle name (which is Lynn. Still kinda boring, but not a very common first name.)  Brittany (after the Chipette, thank you very much) was another popular choice.  I wanted to be the only person someone knew with my name.  But as I've gotten older, I've grown to love my name, and appreciate it for what it is.  Its a solid, old name that people can pronounce and spell.  The classic spelling has been good to me. At one point on my first ship there were three of us - me, Rebekah (also classic, you see that fairly frequently), and Rabeka.  I'm not even kidding. It was spelled that way. Creativity fail.

So these days, I wouldn't want to introduce myself by a different name. At least not first name. Getting rid of the last name though, that's a whole other thing...