My violet is blooming again - can spring be far behind?
This has nothing to do with my story!
Interesting post I found over at Anneliese’s blog! So, here’s my name story. My mother named me Brigitte Karin. She tells me there was a pretty actress at the time of whom she was quite fond. When I became interested in the meanings of names I also checked mine out. Brigitte means ‘strength’ and Karin ‘pure'. While I look big and strong, I’m neither strength nor pure!
In the old country my name was pronounced correctly and I liked it. Being an immigrant with a name that wasn’t that common in English, my classmates and friends at church started calling me variations of the name. That didn’t sit well with me. The immature boys called me Brigitte Bardot, then a model and later a French animal rights activist. That’s not who I was and being called that was embarrassing!
Others simply called me ‘bridge’ or brigeeda. Those who didn’t like me, called me bird s**t, and that was the straw that broke this camel’s back. None of those nicknames appealed to me, lol! When I joined the work force at age 15 to help the family budget, I decided simply to use my second name, Karin! More confusion! OK, now I was Brigitte to all my German friends and acquaintances, but Karin everywhere English was spoken. Some friends even called me the one name when they spoke German to me, and the other when we spoke English! Some call me what they want to and I’ve learned just to let it be!
Nephews and Nieces call me either Tante or Auntie Karin! And good friends affectionately say, “Hey, how’s it goin’?” and don’t bother with the name. The only pet peeve I have about all of this is if close friends cannot remember to spell my name KARIN instead of all the other varieties, even when I have nicely pointed it out to them. I’m quite sure that I’ve been called all manner of things behind my back, but what I don’t know doesn’t bother me that much!
When hubby and I started dating his endearments were Schatzie, Honey, and sometimes, even Gitte, the tail end of my first name! Honey has stuck over the years and that’s my favorite one for hubby too! Our children have called me mom and our grandangels call me Oma! Now that’s my all-time favorite moniker!
We still chuckle about what our oldest granddaughter called me one time. I always called her ‘sweetheart’. One day she was telling her mom, “Oma is a retard!” Her mom was taken aback and wondered just what brought this on, until she realized that the little one was just calling me what I was calling her, SWEETHEART!
The one thing about my name that I love the best is that it is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life! Praise the Lord!
11 comments:
My sister´s name is Karin, spelled exactly like yours, so I´ll never forget. But I didn´t know about Brigitte. Very German. I can imagine the confusion when being smaller. I like Karin better, because that´s how I got to know you. :)
Hi There, You are the only person I know named KARIN... I know people names Karen, but not Karin. How do you pronounce it? Care-en--or Car-en???? I have always said Care-en...
My name is Elizabeth Bruce Banks. My folks called me Betsy --and that is what I have always been called. When kids would tease me, they'd say "Betsy Wetsy Wets her Pants".... Made me CRY!!!!
I love the name Elizabeth--and wish I had been called Liz or Beth... Oh Well. I used to HATE my middle name because to me, Bruce was a boy's name. BUT-now that I'm older, I'm glad I have that name since it is a family name.
Love your African Violet...
Hugs,
Betsy
How interesting! I agree that the most important thing is that our names,whatever they be,are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.Mine is there,Praise the Lord.
Blessings,Ruth
I too suffered many different pronounciations of my name but as I grew up I learned to smile and acknowledged the person no matter how they pronounced my name as long as it was said with respect and not hurtful. I love my name as it was given to me by the one person I loved and trusted more than anyone in the world, my mother.......:-) Hugs
Betsy, my name is pronounced Care-in - but not two separate words - just run into each other. What makes it interesting is that there are some others with the same name. I googled it one day to see what would come up!
Thanks ladies for your visit and comments!
Cute story about your granddaughter. :-)
My two-year-old grandson has started calling me "Hanan" which, I guess, is his version of Nana. Everyone thinks it's cute, but a little odd...
Karin : I'm not an Oma yet, but I can see that my German mother-in-law just loves being called that. And what did Shakespeare write? Something like - "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet..."
I found this very interesting. I believe I've mentioned that my late wife came to the U.S. as a child. She also started using her middle name as a child. Her first name, Elvira, was always mispronounced by English-speakers. She, too, was called by one name in her native community and other in the English community.
Interesting! I love the story about your granddaughter. And too that the one thing about your name you love the best is that it's written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
I liked this post. :) It's funny and lighthearted and made me giggle. :) Personally, I am not in favor of not giving the time to appreciate another person's name enough to stop and learn how to pronounce it. In fact, I appreciate the names of others so much, that I go so far as to asking the origin and history of their names! :)
I like Brigitte and Karin. :) Especially now because I know what they mean. :)
I finally got to your post ... very interesting! I remember Brigitte as being one of my favortie names as a girl. Just thought it had a nice sound. As to the spelling of your name... one of my best girlfriends in my late elementary and high school years was Karin. When you first posted on my blog, I quickly checked, thinking it was her. But now I just have two friends with the same name.
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