What's in a name?
Shirley means "bright meadow"
Laney means "bright path"
Both are derived from English although one source says Laney is derived from Greek "Lanie".
I've been thinking lately (well, this is what woke me up at 6am on a Saturday... that and having to pee like a race horse) that I use the nickname "Laney" in writing which is kind of odd for a nickname. Like my facebook "handle" is Shirley-Laney because I'm only "Laney" to some and only "Shirley" to others. There are some people in my life who might not actually find me on facebook if I was listed as just "Laney" and others who might not find me if I was listed as just "Shirley".
What woke me up, though, was a thought that I have somehow done a disservice to the name Shirley. It is what my mother named me. She loved the name. Granted, the popularity the name enjoyed in the 1940's and 1950's has dropped off a lot and I always thought of it as sort of an old lady's name. My mother only called me "Laney" because it rhymed with "Lorrainey", a nickname she called my sister. What she *really* liked to call me was "Shirley Girley" although I have no thoughts of adopting that version of my name in any formal way.
I really like the nickname Laney but I've caused it to be more than a nickname. I've kind of forced it into a state of confusion by using "Shirley (Laney) Williams" on my signature line in my emails, even on my business cards so that people don't really know what to call me.
Names are very important. Back to what woke me up. I used to feel that Shirley was a name that didn't fit me somehow. But in the wee hours this morning, I realized that I want to honor the name more than I do.
After all, how could a bright meadow be anything but good? If I could, at any time, pick myself up from anywhere I was and plop myself into a bright meadow, I probably would. Bright meadows are delightful and the more I think about it I can feel the goodness of the word on a sort of visceral level. It implies warmth, earthiness, expansiveness, perhaps a butterfly or two.
So I'm thinking of letting "Laney" have the place of an actual nickname. That is, to not use it formally in signature lines (although I am not going to have 1000 business cards changed, ug) and I hope that friends will feel free to call me either "Shirley" or "Shirl" or "Laney", whichever they like the best because I really do like the nickname "Laney"... it's got a playful feeling to it.
And now it's 6:48am and in defiance of my darned internal alarm clock I am going to read for awhile and hope to fall asleep because my dog is now awake and looking very annoyed that the light is on.
Laney means "bright path"
Both are derived from English although one source says Laney is derived from Greek "Lanie".
I've been thinking lately (well, this is what woke me up at 6am on a Saturday... that and having to pee like a race horse) that I use the nickname "Laney" in writing which is kind of odd for a nickname. Like my facebook "handle" is Shirley-Laney because I'm only "Laney" to some and only "Shirley" to others. There are some people in my life who might not actually find me on facebook if I was listed as just "Laney" and others who might not find me if I was listed as just "Shirley".
What woke me up, though, was a thought that I have somehow done a disservice to the name Shirley. It is what my mother named me. She loved the name. Granted, the popularity the name enjoyed in the 1940's and 1950's has dropped off a lot and I always thought of it as sort of an old lady's name. My mother only called me "Laney" because it rhymed with "Lorrainey", a nickname she called my sister. What she *really* liked to call me was "Shirley Girley" although I have no thoughts of adopting that version of my name in any formal way.
I really like the nickname Laney but I've caused it to be more than a nickname. I've kind of forced it into a state of confusion by using "Shirley (Laney) Williams" on my signature line in my emails, even on my business cards so that people don't really know what to call me.
Names are very important. Back to what woke me up. I used to feel that Shirley was a name that didn't fit me somehow. But in the wee hours this morning, I realized that I want to honor the name more than I do.
After all, how could a bright meadow be anything but good? If I could, at any time, pick myself up from anywhere I was and plop myself into a bright meadow, I probably would. Bright meadows are delightful and the more I think about it I can feel the goodness of the word on a sort of visceral level. It implies warmth, earthiness, expansiveness, perhaps a butterfly or two.
So I'm thinking of letting "Laney" have the place of an actual nickname. That is, to not use it formally in signature lines (although I am not going to have 1000 business cards changed, ug) and I hope that friends will feel free to call me either "Shirley" or "Shirl" or "Laney", whichever they like the best because I really do like the nickname "Laney"... it's got a playful feeling to it.
And now it's 6:48am and in defiance of my darned internal alarm clock I am going to read for awhile and hope to fall asleep because my dog is now awake and looking very annoyed that the light is on.