What’s in a Name

Have you ever wondered if your personality would be different if you’d been given another name? I wonder about that because there is such a disparity between my name and my sister’s name. Ok, I’ll admit it’s strictly my own opinion. But how many people dislike their name?

Full disclosure. I am name after my maternal grandmother, whom I loved. I just never loved her name. The story goes my mother wanted to name me after a beautiful dancer but her mother made her feel so guilty concerning naming me, she relented and named me after her mother. I became legally Daphna Delores. Every time I type my legal name it’s highlighted as a misspelled word. No one can pronounce it. The closest anyone ever gets is Daphne.

My sister came along two years later and was named after the beautiful dancer, Cyd Charisse. She left the hospital as Charisse Anne. She grew into a successful and beautiful woman with natural blonde hair. She was always popular with a sunny disposition. Every time we moved, it would take me a full year to make friends. My sister, on the other hand, would have all sorts of friends and even a boyfriend!

I’ve always been overly serious but a name like Daphna isn’t for someone fun and carefree. Now at 18 months I received the nickname Dede and for most of my life I’ve been known as Dede, but that’s not my real name. My real name is on all the official documents of my life. So each and every time I move, change jobs, got married, got divorced etc Daphna Delores shows up.

What I’d like to know is if I had been named Charisse or Charlotte or Samantha etc would I have a less serious personality? Would I be more light-hearted? Would I have been popular? I’ve also been curious if someone didn’t know my name, just by looking at me, what would their guess be?