"The Name's Elin - E. Elin"
My parents named me Elizabeth Elin (pronounced Ellen, but spelled E-L-I-N) because....well, it's a long story.
When my parents were first married, they had a very specific plan for their family. They were going to have 1 boy followed by 1 girl. And they did it, too! They had my brother J.R. followed by my sister H.C.. Sadly, she left this earth almost as soon as she'd arrived.
So Mom and Dad decided that they needed another little girl to complete their family. And so they had my brothers: J.D., J.R., J.C., J.C. & J.L. before they finally got around to me.
Mother believed that you should name a child after the person who would love them the most in this world and in her heart, she knew that would be her. Her name was Elinor. So she proposed lopping off the o & r and calling me Elin.
Daddy objected to this, as he said that, "All Christian girls are named Mary, Martha or Elizabeth." (Some of you good Christian women who are NOT may take exception to this blanket statement, but I can't help it. I'm just quoting Dad!) Given his choice of the 3, he chose Elizabeth. Mother agreed because - linked with Elin, it meant "heavenly light" (something for me to strive to live up to all of my life.)
But they called me Elin! This created some problems for me, as stated in #4 of " 6 Weird Things about Me". I've always liked Elin (but only spelled MY way). However, I did pull Elizabeth out when it suited me. When I played "Royalty" with my best friend Peggy, I was always Queen Elizabeth and she was stuck being Princess Margaret.
When I was about to start kindergarten, I wanted to become Elizabeth. Somehow, it seemed so much more mature and elegant than Elin. Momma wanted me to be Elin, but she played it cool.
I remember sitting on top of the washing machine in our kitchen, while she taught me how to print my name; so that I would be ready for "school". It was hard, too!
I mastered the E. I got the l down. I learned to print a lovely little i. Then Mom pulled out her trump card. "Now if you decided to be Elin in school, all you have left to learn is the n. But if you want to be Elizabeth, you have to print z, a, b, e, t, AND h. What do you want to do?"
Even as a child, I was no glutton for punishment. I could recognize 2 times the work when I saw it. I chose to be Elin (because I was lazy) and I've been Elin ever since. And now I can see that Mom was right.
I am Elin . Short and sweet. Ordinary - but with a little flair!
posted by Grammy @ 7:20 PM
35 Comments:
You are a blogging-fool today!!!! Everytime I check your site there is something new! I love the pictures, they are both so wonderful.
And I love your name and how you spell it. Now when I see "Ellen" it looks wrong to me.
It's a beautiful name--I love it. Just seems to fit you too. So fun to see the picture of you...is it just me, or do I see the strong resemblance to Heather?
now that is one smart mom! ha!! what a negotiator!
I am dying over your mom playing the work card. You have a really pretty name...I am glad you were able to be the queen.
Queen? Princess? Candy Striper? Whatever? As long as you are mine, it's all good!
Thank you, Papa. Now the world can see one of the many reasons why I am glad you're MINE!
Mom's are brilliant ladies, aren't they? And I wouldn't say you were lazy, just practical :)
I've never seen/heard Elin spelled that way before...I LOVE it!
That is such a sweet story. Sounds like Papa doesn't care what your name is - hang onto that man, no matter what!!
Thanks for stopping by yesterday. I have no doubt people will have plenty of sweet things to say about you!
LOVE the pictures...they are wonderful!
The story is just as good...meant to say earlier that the name Elin is beautiful, spelling and sound.
Also love Elizabeth, wanted it for my Minniemee but my husband thought it was too stuffy! So NOT true!
Those pictures are amazing. No wonder I have such gorgeous kids. I've always loved your name.
I love the pictures of you, I have never seen them before. You are beautiful. The baby picture of you reminds me of claire and ellie and newborns. Sometime I want to look through all your pictures. It would be a blast!
Love you!
Fabulous post! I really like both Elizabeth and Elin. And Eleanor. (Ellie would be such a cute nickname for it.) I wish I could get my mom to blog and create posts like this. Treasures! And I loved seeing the photos. Thanks for sharing!
sorry it's been too long since I visited you. I love your explanation for going by Elin. I shortened my real name too, and my blog name from where it came from, so I'm lazy in real life and blogging ;)
I LOOOOOOOOVE that rule of thumb for naming your child after the person who would love them most. While I think I love my girl the most of anyone, I KNOW that I named her after the person who loves her next best after her daddy and me. My sister. LOVELY!
I like your name, and I love the pictures! :)I like it so much, in fact....
The picutres are darling. I love how adorable you are at 5. :)
What a great story! Thank you for sharing and participating in My Life Monday. I look forward to reading more from you. To get the logo, just copy the picture from my blog and put it in yours. I'm so glad you joined us!
I like Elin. So cute!
PS I had a fab time meeting your daughters the other day. They are WONDERFUL!!!!
I love the name Elin. I think your mom was a smarty pants to show you the easy way ...
Great story, great pics. I am really enjoying getting to "know" you through your blog!
That was great to read about your name. My parents don't have a good story for me regarding my name. They just liked the name Jane. When I was younger I wish for a more cutsey name, than just Plain Jane. But, I like it now. There really isn't a lot of Jane's out there. I hear it for a middle name way more than a first name.
Oh, I wanted to add that I also agree with the nameing them after someone who would love them the most. My dd has my mom's name for her middle name....shhhh don't tell the other 45 grandkids, but she really is my Mom's favorite!
That is a great story and I love your name!! What a pretty baby, too!!
I love that your parents continued to have children until they got you! So much for the plan, huh?! LOL!!
We love you alot. Great pictures. I need some non shrinked copies of those.
I loved the story AND the pictures...you are/were darling! (you probably knew that didn't you! : ) I had to laugh about the Queen Elizabeth thing....when my cousin and I would play "house" her husband was always Paul McCartney (okay he wasn't Mormon but we were sure he would be for us) but I had to have "his twin brother!" Whatever!
Love how you fell into your name...appreciate the laziness
(my name is E-V-A so I hear ya)
That was a fun post! What a beatiful name! I love reading your posts (I've justy read a whole slew of them!) I can see so many of the traits that your beatiful daring daughter inherited.
I grew up as Princess Margaret to my older sister's Queen Elizabeth. I have recovered. ;)
Your mom is SO SMART! I see where you get your genius child finagling skills from. :)
Good to hear from you again! I just about had to call my "baby" sister and tell her you said I looked like her (she'd cry though, it's like being told you look like your mom!) Anyway, I envy you for having 5 brothers, I always thought brothers would be GREAT....they could bring home their cute friends and introduce me! (Probably wouldn't have worked out that way I'm sure....some of my friends who had brothers weren't allowed to date anyone....their brothers always "knew" them too well!) I do love my sisters though....
I am an "Elizabeth". IN terms of workload, you made the right choice.
Had to come by again (I've been through in the past a few times) and check out what it means to have a mom who not only reads your blog she comments. And she not only comments but has her own blog. I love that. I also love how well you keep in contact with your kids and grandkids. While you're at it, will you give my mom a call and tell her my name? :)
I love this post. My son has a friend named Elinor, which is unusual in this day and age, especially with that spelling. I'm pretty sure she was named after the character in Sense and Sensibility.
Grammy Rules-
I was doing some research on the name Elin and came across this site. I like the name for my baby girl due in 3 weeks. Anything you can say that will help me convince my wife?!!!
Ok so my name is Elin and it is NOT Ellen. I have had to put up with people pronouncing it as Ellen my entire life and it is TOTALLY WRONG. Elin is actually pronounced E-Lin with the E sound being the long sound and the Lin being more clipped when it is spoken. It does not sound anything like Ellen! If you wish to hear how it is properly pronounced as a native Danish speaker or a Welsh person and they will put you on the right track as the pronunciation that is done by English speaking people is incorrect. PLEASE people it is not Ellen! Poor Tiger Woods wife must be so frustrated as US television is always pronouncing her name WRONG!
I was so thrilled to read Elin's (not Ellen's) post (above) as I was signing on to add my 2 cents. I, too, am E'-lin NOT "Ellen" although I get called that 9 times out 10 and grudgingly answer to it if necessary, but I quickly & politely correct the speaker. I respect your heritage of being named after your mother and got a laugh out of her reasoning with you that it was easier to spell. I was named for my (Swedish)great-grandmother and hated it most of my adolescence because no one would say it correctly. I tried to go by my middle name Lea (pronounced Lee) or spelled it Elynn so it would be pronounced correctly, but by high school I realized the privileged I'd been given of having a unique name and have embraced it to this day. [I actually resent Tiger for creating such a spectacle and making it so well known that it finally made an appearance on the top 1,000 names in the US. =( Although, a few more people do pronounce correctly (but how the press can continue to butcher it is beyond me).] It is of Celtic origin and the intended pronunciation is E'-lin, and personally, I will never accept Ellen as an acceptable substitute (in fact I cringe at the sound, LOL). But, however your/our parents intended it to be, is correct. To my friend E'lin, Hooray! I've only met one other (who also pronounced it as we do). We should start a club. ;) Happy day all!
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