CHAT: Names, was: Re: Brithenig-heads

On Sat, 15 Apr 2000, BP Jonsson wrote:

> At 23:04 14.4.2000 +0200, Irina Rempt wrote:
>
> >they named me something that rhymes with just
> >about every rude word in the Dutch language
>
> Tell! ;-)
My baptismal name is Ruth, not pronounced the English way (that would
probably have been bearable) but very much like "rut"; the things it
rhymes with, as my classmates knew and used to their great enjoyment,
are _kut_ "cunt", _tut_ "prude", _trut_ "dowdy woman" (with slightly
sexual overtones), and combinations of those, like their favourite
nickname for me, "chocoladekut" (clear what *that* means!). Also
"rut-tut-tut", said very softly behind my back.

Needless to say I got to hate my name, especially as I was plain and
geeky in my early teens and the taunts didn't help any. When I
finally blossomed a little at fifteen or so, the harm had already
been done and I never got comfortable with the name again.

I had a Jewish friend whose kid sister was also called Ruth, but she
pronounced it /rut/ and was never called anything rude. I tried to
get people to pronounce my name the Jewish way as well, but it never
"took" until I decided to call myself something else entirely. It
helped that I started university just about that time, so I was
surrounded by about 90% new people who only knew me as what I called
myself.

When we married, I grabbed the chance to use Boudewijn's surname with
both hands (it's not automatic any more over here, you have to
specifically request it, they assume everybody wants to keep using
their maiden name) because it was so much better than the one I had
(Drijfhout - my father's name and nothing wrong with it, but it's
just not *me*).

A few years ago I went to a convention in Canada and a Canadian
friend bought an inland ticket for me. He was very surprised that a
person he only knew as "Irina Rempt" needed a ticket in the name of
"Ruth Drijfhout" :-)

   Irina

--
           Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@valdyas.org (myself) - http://valdyas.conlang.org (Valdyas)
          http://www.valdyas.org/irina/index.html (home)