When I was out for my walk this afternoon, after baking the lemon cake that we are having tomorrow, I ran into a lovely woman, the daughter of a widowed woman in the village. We had a nice chat, she also does supply teaching, but not at any of the schools I go to.
After I continued on my walk, I wracked my brain trying to remember her name. I went letter by letter through the alphabet, and never did come up with it.
It drives me nuts when I can’t remember a name and trust me when I tell you that I have thousands of names stored in my head and it is often that I have to spend a bit of time recalling them. I’m now in my thirty- third ( fourth?) year of teaching ( albeit not full time any more) and with a class of approximately 25 students, that’s 825 names at the very least . Of course I would know students from other classes, or their siblings, let alone their parents’ names or grandparents. Let’s add in various staff members, some you know for years, others who come and go quickly.
Of course, I’ve had occasions where someone says hi to me while I’m out shopping and I realize he or she is a previous student ( from twenty odd years ago) and they change of course. Sometimes I know their name right away, and other times I ask for a little reminder.
But getting back to my walk and the thoughts that run through my head, I got thinking how names can be popular for a while and then you won’t hear of anyone with that name at all. Being around small children for all these years, I’ve really noticed the name trends.
I’m 57 years old and some girl names when I was young were Jeannie, Linda, Heather, Tracey, Sharon, Wanda, Kristine, Colleen, Carolyn, Lisa, Sherry, or Angie. None of those names are popular now, at least where I’m from.
Boy names go through trends. Husband and I used to joke about cowboy names beings a thing a while back : Cody, Dylan, Maverick, Wyatt…
Lately there has been an onslaught of what I refer to as the “on” names for boys: Bryson, Carson, Tyson, Jaydon, Jordan, Jackson, Brandon, Kaden, Landon, Trenton…
For a while there were also boys named after hockey players, both first and last names being inspirational.
Creative spelling of names has also become a thing. I always feel a little sorry for the child, knowing they will forever be spelling their name out loud to people when filling out forms or signing up for things.
There are the traditional names that still stand the test of time but you don’t hear them a lot. I knew one William, a couple of Johns, quite a few Emmas ( that was my grandmother’s name).
Have you known any youngsters with your name? Is your name quite unique or one of many? Any “creative “ names popping up in your families? Do you also have a little difficulty recalling someone’s name after not seeing them for a while? Share in the comments if you wish.