Something new for 2020. Well, actually old in a way. I had intentions of starting this list of questions once a couple of years ago. Was going to try to answer them on weekly videos. Well, I only completed one video and that was it. I think I got sick or was in a bad flare or something. I'm hoping for better results this year.
So...I've had this list of life questions I got somewhere online for several years and now I'm going to attempt to post the answer to one of the questions every Friday. Had kind of planned to do this for my grandsons to read one day, you know? May or may not be of interest to anyone else. Some questions are kind of dumb or may not pertain to my life very well but I will do my best to stick to the list. Some answers will be short and some might be longer. No clue. Feel free to skip Fridays. I won't be offended. :)
Oh, and confession! I am actually writing this on Thursday! This is the very first time I have not written a post on that very day and posted it when I was done. I know. I'm probably the only blogger who has never used a draft or scheduled postings ahead of time (can you do that?) in all my 13 years of blogging--LOL! But I really wanted to post these on Fridays. Since tomorrow morning is going to be busy with Caroline bringing groceries around 10-11am and then around 12-1pm I'll be gone all day to McFamily's for our Christmas celebration...guess there's a first time for everything.
[Note: this is rather freeing, though. ;)]
Okay. Here we go.
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1. What is your full name? Explain why your parents gave you that name.
My full name is Rita Jane McGregor.
In our family the firstborn child takes the appropriate parent's first name as their middle name. My maternal grandmother's name was Hazel so my mother's name was Jane Hazel and I became Rita Jane Johnson.
My folks did name the second born son after Dad, though...well, kind of. Dad's real name was Clarence but everyone called him Kelly ever since he was a kid in school. They named my brother Blaine Kelly.
I don't know if that is an American take off on an old Swedish tradition or not. Somewhere along the line I remember hearing that the surnames in the old country came from who your father was. Like Johnson told that you were John's son, for example. Peterson...Swenson...Larson...well, you get the drift. But until right this minute I never thought to try to research that online where you can find almost anything--LOL! Anyways, I heard that somewhere as a kid and always wondered what about the daughters?
But that doesn't explain where Rita came from. My dad always told me that Mom named me after Rita Hayworth--but I think he was just teasing me. As a kid I had no idea why he thought that was so amusing...or why that it annoyed my mother. Mom always told me, "You named yourself".
Years later when I had my son...his name just came to me a couple of months before he was born...I couldn't tell anyone where it had come from because I had no idea...people thought it was "different" (Minnesota polite for "really weird")...I picked out a girl's name just in case...but when they laid him in my arms I said..."So, you're Dagan!" I knew it was true.
He named himself.
So, I believe my mother. ;)
Apparently we both appreciated "different" names, too.
My little sister's name is Renee. All three names were not usual in the early 50s.
Dagan has no middle name. Dagan Jerome or Dagan Jerry just didn't work at all and nothing else seemed to fit within Dagan McGregor. It has always sounded perfect just as it was.
The end. :)
14 comments:
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Well i will be here every Friday i can be to read your post Rita... but... i can't help but question the wisdom of putting your full , real name on here...and that of your family. Hugs! deb
That's interesting, the way that families decide on names. I've been researching ancestors, and that can be REALLY confusing, they only seemed to have half a dozen Christian names between them! Happy New Year to you, Rita, and also your lovely family!
It's interesting to hear how your family chooses names. Our family has no tradition at all along that line.
I love hearing about family traditions with names. It is nice how your family has passed down the first name as the middle name. My husband and I come from the South and there are many different name traditions there. His family often followed the southern tradition of using the mother's or grandmother's maiden name as part of the child's name. So his first and middle names were Loyal Thompson from the maiden names of his Mother and Grandmother. Unfortunately he has always hated those names and goes by Tom. So I do think people should consider how the child might feel about a name too. The names in your family are all good names and I agree that sometimes a child will name themselves because a certain name just "feels right"!
Happy New Year Rita!
Fascinating! My given name, Belle Tamaam, is maternal grandmother/paternal grandmother (and the family spells that name 3 difference ways among those who've gotten it. I have Dad's birth certificate. *mine* is the correct way. So there).
Grandmother Belle, Mom Edith Belle, me Belle Tamaam, Daughter Jessie Carlyn (just couldn't do "jessie belle"), granddaughter AvaBelle Rose (which also happens to be the last name of her birth great grandmother). As it turns out there was a Jessie who died young in my maternal grandmother's family. I didn't know that.
Fun recalls and yes your Grandsons will enjoy reading it someday! I think the daughters went by Rita Jane Kellysdoughter...but I might be wrong.
A really interesting post. I was named after my father, John - but I hated it so much that I changed my name to Jonathan when I was sixteen. So I technically kept my name but with a different spelling.
I don't have a middle name. I like the name Dagan.
I was named by my mum because she liked the name Jo and Anne was her grandmother's name.
You may have noticed I didn’t stop by to visit, or I didn’t host my own Second on the 2nd. The reason is quite simple. Wednesday evening, just as I was saying good-bye to my dear friends SC and ND who dropped by to wish me a happy new year, my electricity went out. When I looked outside and saw the neighbors across the street, whose lights NEVER go out when mine do were also out, I knew it wasn’t a blown transformer. My friends decided to stay to see what the problem was. Not more than three or four minutes later, we heard sirens, not just police, but fire, too. We knew it sounded close, so we walked in the direction of the sirens. It was quite dark, but my friends had their cell phone lights to guide them. Two blocks west and one block south we saw that someone in a big truck had hit a light pole so hard, it knocked it over and stretched the wire so hard, the electricity went off in the area on one side, while the other side was draped over someone’s house and was zapping live sparks on the ground in the road.
At first we thought it was a drunk driver, but after the ambulance arrived, we saw the man either had a heart attack or possibly a seizure. As the electric company was arriving, they told the crowd it would be at least a day before we would get our power back. Instead of staying home in the cold and dark, my friend SC, who lives in another town, invited me to her home. I am just now getting home. Even though she has an I-Pad, I don’t know the password that gets me onto blogger (which is stored on my computer only). I’ll be back soon, just want you to know why I wasn’t around to visit and play host. The electricity is on (I’m not sure how long it’s been on), but it’s freezing here. Thanks for understanding, dear friend.
It was fascinating how you got your name. Never heard naming like that before, but obviously others have. I was named for the Queen of England, since my grandmother was very British. And I was born the day after the Queen's birthday, too.
Hi Rita - very interesting. I love hearing about how people got their names. I was told that my parents liked the actresses Debbie Reynolds and Debra Kerr, so my name came about, but they wanted me to have the biblical spelling so I am Deborah. So fun to find out more about you. I love your son's name. Dagan is a good, solid name. See you again soon. Have a good weekend.
Love the story, Rita. And apparently Dagan really did name himself. Glad to know you're going to do the Friday questions now. I'll be here! :-)
Interesting dear Rita!
Wishing you a very happy 2020 dear friend!
Big hugs, Susi
This is such a great idea to do these life questions. I found it really interesting how you were named as well as how Dagan was named. Looking forward to your next question and answer!
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