my name game

When I was born my parents named me Debra after a character in a movie that they saw while my mom was pregnant. Apparently a lot of people saw that movie and liked the name because it seems as if  I have never been anywhere without finding another Debra/Deborah/whatever in the group. When I was younger, annoying as it was, I had an unusual last name, Chytraus.  That, at least, helped me feel that my name was a little unique.

Then I married Mr. Carter and became Debra Carter. Now at the library, grocery store, video rental and other places there are multiple Debra Carters and I am the one who lives in Eustis, or whatever other defining terms are needed.

I have a friend who changed her name and believe me, I have thought about it. For a long time now, I have thought that IF I ever changed my name, I would change it to Maisie Carter.

 

This, of course, is Maisy Mouse. I think she looks a bit like me.

 

 

But lately I have been reading books by D E Stevenson and although there are a number of characters that I really like, my favorite is Hester Christie. So now I am wondering about becoming Hester Carter. Doug’s grandfather’s name was Lester Carter, so some people might not think it is too redundant. I would even be willing to keep Debra as a middle name as a nod to my parents.

My husband claims that he always does what I want…which is NOT true, although I have to admit that he often does. However, when it came to naming our girls, he chose. I lobbied for Camilla three times in a row and lost all three times. Never mind the fact that our girls have thanked their father numerous times over the years for their good fortune in not being named Camilla. He said he would name me Christina or Crystal, but since I have a half-sister named Christina that one is definitely out of the picture now and Crystal Carter sounds like, I don’t know, a country singer? Whatever, it doesn’t sound like me to me.

Which brings me back to Hester. Her name is not often used in the books, which are written in the early 1900’s. She is known as Mrs. Tim, short for Mrs. Tim Christie. The books are somewhat autobiographical, which I suppose means that D E Stevenson was actually known as Mrs. James short for Mrs. James Peploe. “D” does not stand for Debbie, it stands for Dorothy.  I would actually rather be Debra than Dorothy, so I guess it could be worse.