Jun
14
2009
Secret 12 … I can’t spell my own child’s name
Digby, my younger son, has two middle names because he’s fancy like that. One of them is Elliot. Or is it Eliot. Or Elliott? Seriously I couldn’t tell you. Every time I need to fill in an official form I have to get his birth certificate out to check. MrSpud and I made our wills recently and neither of us were at all sure of the spelling – OH THE SHAME.
Diggy's Vital Statistics
Sometimes I have a wobble over the spelling of one of Bertie’s middle names too – Rafael – and have an ‘is it with a ph or an f?’ debate. I have to google Rafael Benitez (Liverpool FC Manager) to double check it. Rafael was added to Bertie’s names after Liverpool won the European championship while I was pregnant. MrSpud made me stand in front of the TV, bump aloft, so that our unborn baby could “hear the roar of Anfield”. Yeah, blah, whatever.
Anyway, luckily my wonderful wife and BFF Lyanne designed the fabulous graphic above, and had it printed on canvas, for Diggy’s last birthday. It’s so clever and uses all his names, nicknames, initials, his date of birth and his birth weight. So when I need a quick reminder of how to spell my own child’s name I can just nip upstairs to his bedroom and check.
Here’s ‘the wife’ a wonderful portrait taken by our photographer pal Liz. Thanks for letting me use it here, it’s about 100 times better than any shot of her I’ve taken. It’s Lyanne’s fault I’m blogging actually, so if you don’t like what you see…please address all complaints to the Mrs. She’s a brilliant photographer and somehow got me started on it last Autumn and then I started to enjoy spinning the yarns to go with my snaps on Flickr as much as taking them. And thus A Blog was Born.
The 'Wife'
So thanks to my buddy I now have a ready reckoner of Diggy’s middle names for those ’senior moments’. I might just get his name tattooed on his forehead and be done with it.
having grown up with a name no one spells right and then a nickname that is totally unrelated makes me at times a split personality. it also teaches me to answer to “you know what your name is.”
Why don’t you tattoo their names on the back of your hands? Two kids, two hands. Problem solved. And does your BFFWife look like you or is it my imagination?
Charlane…I have that problem..my nickname is Spudballoo but that bears no resemblance to my real name (Judith), and I’m generally known as Jude. It’s complicated!
Liz…good spot! We’re not completely dissimilar, although obviously I’m better looking that her mwa ha ha..! And yes, natch, one on each hand – why didn’t I think of that? x
i thought it was only me…only mine is even worse and more horrible…because i can’t bring myself to go check it. sabin had a twin sister named sophia (or was it sofia) who was stillborn. we named her and had a funeral and everything and there is a gravestone, but i cannot bring myself to go there and see it…and i can’t remember how we spelled it. i think it was the ph, but i’m not sure. it haunts me sometimes. maybe someday i’ll have enough courage to go and check. until then, i just live with the guilt.
hey, sorry i totally neglected to say in my blog crush post that i stole the pictures from your blog and give you proper photo credit. i’m going to edit it now! bad julie. bad julie.
Oh Julie, that made me weep. I’m so sorry, I can’t even begin to imagine that kind of loss. Makes my silly nonsense tale seem so crass. Sophia, Sofia…beautiful either way and loved as much, missed as much either way xxx
Oh god don’t fret about the photo credits! i didn’t notice, I don’t care and I’m just pathetically grateful to be ‘crushed’…tee hee
Hi Spud, found you thru Julie and loved what she said about your website. I have to think about my youngest daughters middle name, and her birthday also. Bad mom, bad bad mom.
Hello! And welcome, I will pop over your way shortly! Ha ha, yes I have the birthday issue to…whenever I’m asked for their dates of birth I always want to give me own. And then one of them was born on 11 September, so i want to say 9/11 but that’s wrong in the UK as we do it day, month, year…so it’s 11/9. Oh, the CHAOS!!
I have the same probs with my own name!!! it’s so hard to remember when you get old and it’s such a long complicated spelling….especially when people here want to call me alIII like Mohammad Ali… and then look at me weird when I say no just Ali… like in Alison!!!
Poor Syd gets called Cindy all the time too…now she’s learned to say no…syd… ney and she holds her hands up and does the old one two thingy…very cute. I looked in the phone book once to see if there was a Mr Australia she can marry, not here in T-ville but the search is on…. I have rambled haven’t I???
LOL, actually snorting outloud. So funny, perhaps find a Suitable Husband and then force him to change his surname to Austraila by deed pole. Oh…the..comedy..value….Hello and OK would pay zillions for the wedding shots of Ms Sydney Australia. Waaaah.
Slightly concerned that you can’t remember how to spell your own name though? I think you need to come home lovie. x
Spud: That was a most hilarious post. I have the same problem with my hubby’s middle name. And here I thought I was the only one.
And Julochka: I am with Spud. That made me weep. And I am so sorry for your loss and your pain. It makes everything I complain and moan about so insignificant.
This is hilarious! Do you carry his birth certificate everywhere just in case? That’d be great!
Oh, I’m with you all on the name thing. My name is Relyn. As in Ruh-Lynn, which actually sounds prettier than it looks sitting there like that. I get Ray-Lynn all the time. ALL THE TIME. I also get Ray, Ree-Lynn, and most notably Rahh-Lynn. GEEZ! I just answer to anything close.
Hey, I can feel a name post coming on here. Thanks for the great idea.
Oh yes, there’a whole short story there never mind a blog post!
funny…my daughter has 5 names…first name, 2 middle, and 2 last…fortunately, i can spell them because someone has to teach her. lol.
love your post.
i didn’t realize how sad my previous comment was…dang. now i’m crying. it’s bad. didn’t mean to bring everyone down on your blog. i need to censor myself. it’s just that your post made me think about it…and i was laughing because of your not remember and then all that just came out. but i wasn’t really as sad as i sounded.
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