Tuesday, June 2, 2009

at least i'm not a pye

***Anne of Green Gables reference below***

I like to propose my name to friends who are having children. "Adele" is a lovely name, don't you think? I like the look of alarm on their faces before they decide I'm not serious. I recently offered such a suggestion via Facebook and received the following email from my friend:

Now that you mention it...
I was going to ask you if you would mind us considering Adele for baby girl? :) No lie. We love the name and had it on our list, but I wanted to be sure it was fly by you first? Do you mind?

The following passage sprang instantly to mind:
"Oh, I don't think so," said Diana... "I think people make their names nice or ugly just by what they are themselves. I can't bear Josie or Gertie for names now, but before I knew the Pye girls I thought them real pretty."
"That's a lovely idea, Diana," said Anne enthusiastically. "Living so that you beautify your name, even if it wasn't beautiful to begin with... making it stand in people's thoughts for something so lovely and pleasant that they never think of it by itself."
Not that I think I'm quite there... but I am thrilled to hear that my name hasn't been ruined by, well, me. At least for this one friend. Not yet. Also, I am going to reread the Anne series. I've missed her.

4 comments:

Janelle Wilson said...

I loved the Green Gables series. I think I might pull it out too! And it's such a true quote - after meeting so many children, I'm quickly running out of potential baby names. "Nope, he picked his nose. Nope, she threw tantrums..." the list just keeps getting longer.

naomi said...

I suppose you might want your book back then! Can you wait until Tuesday?

aubyn said...

Those Pye girls are the WORST!

Actually I haven't read those books. ha ha ha

Reese said...

Gertie...now there's a girl's name to add to our list :)