Thursday 14 March 2013

Whats in a name?




Hello to you all out there in the blogosphere

I am going to keep this post brief. This morning I took these photographs of myself in the hallway mirror on my way to work. Now, I am not sure about you, but having my photo taken is a serious pet hate, but for the purposes of this post I have taken these in front of the mirror in the hallway. I look miserable, but I promise I am not. I am just a little self conscious about my teeth at the moment, I've been having assessments with prostodontists for the work that needs doing etc.

I wanted to tell you about a little change to my my name I've been using on my blog and to comment on yours. I was born Penelope and named by my dad, Peter, we had the same initials when I was growing up and I loved that. I've always loved the name Penelope and it's Greek meaning of "faithful" and in some texts "weaver" all associated with Penelope and Odysseus....BUT it was immediately shortened to Penny and various other nicknames and terms of endearment(I won't go into those! hehe).

When I started my blog back in 2009 I decided to call myself Penelope. The truth of the matter is that I don't really know why? Maybe I didn't want to be recognised (I can't see why i have nothing to hide)? Maybe I wanted to "be someone else" (which by the way I am completely myself here and am not pretending to be someone else), maybe I just wanted to start a new chapter and call myself by my real name? I honestly have no idea.

In my early 20's I went through a brief phase of introducing myself as Penelope, but that was short lived as I could literally see people's tongues getting twisted trying to pronounce it and soon gave up.

People would often pronounce it Penny-lope which would drive me potty, another reason to give it up. My early years association with my full name was my mum calling me Penelope when I knew I had been naughty and getting up to tricks which she wasn't happy with!

So, the long and short of it is that I'm back to just plain old me, Penny. An email chat with Lisa made me think about my name again and because if you meet me I would ask you to call me Penny, it seems bizarre that I have been calling myself Penelope for so long in the blogosphere.

If you prefer Penelope then that is just fine by me too. Just don't call me Pen Pen 'cause that will make me cry as my parents and close friends/family are the only ones allowed to call me that :o)

Thanks so much for all your fab comment and conversation I love them and welcome to new followers too. 

I'm excited to show you my completed mosaic tomorrow. Despite a few cuts on my fingers I loved bringing it all together with the grout
See you then
xox 
Penny

ps. Do you use a different version of the name you go by on your blog? Do tell x



19 comments:

  1. Hi Penny!
    I like them both! I'll call you Penelope on Sundays, everything has to be a bit more proper on Sundays doesn't it!
    As you will know, my real name is Amanda, Ada is a nickname my Mum called me. I'm considering changing my name completely, always being Ada, I love it! Sadly I think my family and friend might think I've finally flipped and might just send me away for a little rest courtesy of the NHS......actually, that's not a bad idea!!! :) x

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  2. I use my real name but my blog name's a bit random, and funny enough I was thinking about changing it! Not sure what to or why though yet...

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  3. Hello Penny!
    You don't look miserable. I think you look fantastic in your pics - stylish and purposeful.
    Looking forward to seeing that mosaic.
    Ellie
    x

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  4. I like your hair!

    I am Heather in real life and on my blog. I hate it being shortened to "heath" (not to sound like heeeth but heather minus the er). My friends at school used to call me HM (my initials) which I also hated! I quite like being called H.

    TTB has a name that has a common shortening but I like the full version best and I hope he never gets called by the short version although I imagine he will do when he goes to school! Although, Andy gets called Andrew by his parents and it really annoys me because he prefers Andy. I think that makes me a bit hypocritical!

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  5. Hi
    I'm a Penelope! I never liked the name much as a child but grew to love it with age. I wanted to post a comment because i found it funny that you too were called Penelope by parents when in trouble or needed to do a job. Im sure my Mum would get a fun kick out of yelling "Peas Please Penelope!" at dinner time. And I always introduce myself as Penny and can tell when someone doesn't know how to pronouce Penelope correctly. One friend purposely calls me Penny...lope as he finds it amusing.
    Any way, i just wanted to say Hi Penny!
    Penny

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  6. I actually like my name, hasn't ever been shortened really, and doesn't rhyme with much at all, when a boss in my early twenties pointed out I had a 'stickable' name and to always say it when first meeting someone, it made sense....i have known a couple of people who have lengthened my name to faithful, which is lovely...some family and friends call me Faithy.

    There's a lot in a name I think, but I'm sure it is up to us whether we let it define who we are...good, or bad. I do tend to have faith in people...I have strong faith in God....not sure I can move mountains though....yet!

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  7. Penny sounds much more relaxed and laidback....but I also like the sound of Penelope...ahh blimey now I sound like an ALDI advert. :)

    Lovely name, either way.

    Gorgeous scarf too....the red looks fab on you!

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  8. Hi Penny, I can understand why you might choose to change your name on your blog...I considered using my middle name or a different spelling of Jacquie , one that people would be more familiar with, but in the end I just used my regular name..... Lovely photos of you by the way , I've been enjoying wearing my sunglasses the past couple of days :0)
    Thank you for all your sweet comments.
    Jacquie x

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  9. Hey penny, nice to meet you! ... Actually I think penny-lope could catch on!! Xx

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  10. Names are funny arnt they, my son is Tommy its on his birth certificate, not thomas, he went through school with some teachers refusing to call him Tommy, but thomas, it used to drive him nuts!! now if someone calls him thomas he politely corrects them.
    Me on the other hand being a Sophie have been Soph mostly all my life to friends and family, but my Husband hates shortening names and calls me Sophie, I always feel I'm in trouble when he says my name!! as I only ever got called that when I was naughty too.
    I really like my name short or long and yours is pretty too x you look lovely in the pics, I'm not too keen on photos of myself either.... its nice to put a face to a Penny :-)
    love Sophie x

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  11. Well my name on here is a shortened version of my middle name and I use my maternal family surname, simply to preserve some anonymity and because my actual married surname is so unusual that I would be easy to find if anyone was interested enough to do so! Plus it's the name I use for my writing and sounds nicer, friendlier than my real name, which sounds dead posh to be honest. Which isn't me. Maggie sounds, to me, cuddly, friendly, nice to know and I like to think that's me... well, the cuddly bit definitely is. Old friends and medics call me by my 'proper' name. And I've had nicknames, some cruel, mostly kind.
    And I so empathise with the teeth thing....x

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  12. Penny Penny Penny!!! I've slipped up a few times and called you Penny, simply because you seemed a less formal person than Penelope seems to be. QUite irrational on my part, I know. And we did have a conversation where I asked you and you said either would do. So I'm pleased to read you are now officially Penny! (I don't dislike Penelope, and I don't automatically shorten peoples' names. )

    My name is Lynne, you'd think you couldn't shorten that - but people will insist on calling me Lynda! I was told there is no such name as Lyn (sic) it was always short for Lynda or Linda!

    Our second son was Christened Christopher, and as soon as people started calling him Chris (or God forbid, Chrissie!) we changed it to Kit, and he has been Kit ever since. He loves it. BTW, I love the name Sophie as my aunt and grandmother were Sophie, and they were occasionally shortened to Soph! (reading Sophie's comment above!) Lxxx

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  13. Hi Penny! I loved your name Penelope as long as it lasted. But you decide. There is a diminutive of my Latin name Regula, which was used when I was a child. Later my family cut off the suffix -li. All other people call me Regula (which is hard to pronounce for English speakers. Have a nice weekend. Regula

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  14. It's odd, my inclination has always been to call you Penny, and I've had to remind myself to use Penelope ... feels like somehow I knew! Certainly shouldn't be a problem changing ;)

    I was christened Anne and I hated it, I have been Annie for as long as I've had the power to dictate what I'm called. My mother still calls me Anne and I vote as her but I'm not really sure who she is. As a kid I longed for enlightened parents who'd called me Freya, or Cariad, or Seren, or something equally unlikely!

    You once signed an email to me Pen, by the way, and I never knew if you'd managed to delete some letters or that was the form you used.

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  15. Lovely Penny,
    You will always be Lady Penelope to me.... ;)
    xxx

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  16. Hello Penny! Since we've just met you will be Penny to me. Thanks for visiting my blog.

    Your red spotty scarf is marvellous. It suits you very well.

    Gillian x

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  17. Hello there Mrs Penny, that rolls off the tongue so much more easily. I always find it disrespectful to shorten names without permission and I feel an odd kind of akwardness using a nickname when I don't really know the person.
    Good to see a wee bit more of the you behind the voice. Loving your nail colour.
    As for me, well shortening Lisa isn't too easy as its shortened from other names as it is. All the same my mum calls me Lis (leees), my uncle and another Elderly aunt used to call me Liza (which I really liked, but they were the only ones who did that) and dad would call me Rebecca now and again (my middle name and the one he wanted to call me). We've talked names on here before haven't we. They fascinate me with all their meanings and significance. I keep meaning to write a post about it, but always forget.

    Have a great weekend.

    Lisa X

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  18. Hello Penny-lope (hehe, there's always one!!). I'm glad we're going to call you Penny from now on, it's much more relaxed I think. I'm really Kathryn but was always Kate (occasionally Katie by friends but never, ever family). On the times my father called me Kathryn, I knew I was in deep trouble but now that I'm grown up and a bit better behaved, it's only people like the doctor who might called me that.
    Have a lovely weekend Penny, you look lovely by the way!
    Kate x

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