My Name

When I was little, I really didn't like my name, because all of my teachers called me by my first name, Nora, on the first day of class, and when I corrected them, they could not pronounce my middle name, Dineane. In high school, I decided I would start over with "Nora" as the name I would be called when I started college. It didn't work. Meeting new roommates, friends, etc., I responded to "What's your name?" with the ingrained "Dineane."

People still get it wrong all of the time. Probably my worst pet peeve is when someone replies to an email, from me, with my name right there, and writes "Diane." Oh well. Okay, not my worst pet peeve, just kind of irritating. My worst pet peeve is people who get in the turn lane too quickly at the street to my house, when I'm trying to get into the turn lane from the other direction and have to wait on them. I don't expect people to easily say or spell "Dineane." But even with the difficulty, I've come to like my name.

I think it's pretty cool to google my name and find so many hits, just for ME. And lest you be confused, I might as well give up all of my privacy and disclose that "Dineane Smith," "Dineane Buttram," and "Dineane Whitaker" are all me. I like having an unusual name much more now than I did as a child. But even as a child, I appreciated the story of how I got my name.

Well, I appreciated at least part of the story. Mama claims that "Nora" was one of Daddy's old girlfriends, and that's why they didn't actually call me by my first name. I've never really believed her. Why would anyone agree to name their first-born after hubby's old flame? And Daddy says it's not true, that he dated Nora's sister but just always liked the name Nora. Either way, I don't feel much like a "Nora". Too stuffy.

I was named after a man who worked with my dad, who everyone says had a long white beard like Santa Clause. His last name was DiNeen. My parents liked him, and liked the name, so they changed the spelling a bit and gave it to me. I'm named after Santa Clause. Isn't that cool?

A few years ago I met a step-cousin-in-law, or something like that. I can't remember the exact relation. She was considerably younger than I am, but I'm not going to give exact numbers. When we were introduced, we were delighted to have the same middle name, though we spelled it differently. Then she proceeded to tell me that she was named after the same man I was named after! I think my daddy believes that her daddy stole the idea from him, but either way, it's kind of cool. At least she doesn't spell it the same way.

Are you wondering how it is prounounced? It rhymes with Jeanine. That's what I tell everyone, "like Jeanine, but with a 'D'." And they usually get it after that. Here's another funny...my ex husband has a sister named Jeanine and a sister named Christine. Family get togethers could be confusing!

But now in my second husband's family, I'm unique again. I have to admit, I like it that way.