What's in a Name?

Despite what Shakespeare says, I believe a name holds a lot of weight. A rose would simply not smell as sweet if it swapped names with a skunkweed; or, at least, you wouldn't see people so eagerly sticking their noses towards it. But, then again, if in the beginning Adam had named the unfortunate namesake a rose, instead, we would avoid the roseweed and prefer the skunk. And that's just plain confusing, because we've been conditioned to think of a specific thing when we hear a name.

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In my case, I've got a ton of names. Each one inspires a different image.

(By the way, I totally meant to attach a deeper meaning to this, but I couldn't come up with one. If you do, feel free to leave it in the comments. I'm just going to resign myself to the fact that this blog is purely quirky.)

Charlene.
The given name. While it's not exactly a secret, not everybody knows it, and it receives interesting reactions. I've heard often "That's a pretty name", commonly "Oh, I thought it was Charlotte", and not a few times "Your real name is Charlene?" It's an elegant name that I've never thought really suits me. But it makes for a bunch of interesting nicknames. ;)

Charli.
The name. The one I use to introduce myself. The one all my friends know me by. The one that gets the coolest comments ever. The one that, apparently, is impossible to spell. Tack on my middle name, Rae, and you've got my pen name.

Charlenie, Char, & Char-Char.
The common pet names. The first one is my title among my cousins, the second is used by my friends, and the last only (hopefully) by my sister. I'm not particularly fond of any of them, but they don't embarrass the heck out of me. Well, except maybe the first one.

Charcoal & Chuckle-doodle-doo.
The cringe names. The first I absolutely despised until I met Ashley, or Ashes, and realized what a hypocrite I am. The second one I didn't plan on sharing, 'cause when people call me that I turn into Godzilla, but I smile like an idiot when I think of it, 'cause that's what my daddy calls me. And no, that doesn't mean I don't turn into Godzilla when he calls me that.

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|