Daily writing prompt

If you had to change your name, what would your new name be?

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I love this prompt yet I’m not exactly sure of the answer. I do know that growing up, I detested my first name, Carla. It was so bloody typical and boring. There were two other “Carla’s” in my little tiny K-9 school, although one was a Karla.

I was named after my Dad’s dad, Carl. That’s how I got stuck with that name. And from an early age, I decided that when I had kids they would have cool and unique names, not cookie cutter names. I started a list of baby names when I was probably eleven years old. It included names like Wolfgang and Maude. Cool names.

When I was probably around age thirteen I decided I’d had enough of my lame first name and I announced at the supper table, that going forward I would like to be known not as Carla, but as CJ. My middle name is Joanne so in my mind, it just worked and it sounded cool. CJ. Now that’s a cool handle. In my little farm girl pea brain, I was like Prince or Madonna, telling the world that my new name was now CJ and please respect that. What did my parents do? They laughed. And laughed. They did not take me seriously. Not one bit.

I pleaded with them and told them I was serious. They just continued to laugh, I was just Carla being Carla. Always up to something. That was a dead end. I was bummed.

I went through life being known as Carla. Call me dramatic but it’s so unfair.

There have been times when I’ve made fresh starts in my life and had my opportunity to refer to myself as CJ, like when I started teaching this year at the College. My daughter said Mom have the class call you CJ, it’s your chance. But no, it just doesn’t work that way. Maybe for a nickname I guess. I did put my name in my bio as CJ and I’ve had a few people refer to me that way in comments which makes my heart soar. I’ve had friends and coworkers along the way call me CJ as well. It’s probably not my top pick for names but it beats Carla.

By the way I named my three older kids Bella-Lena, Tazman and Cordelia….I think I did good by them. Not so common.