What's in a Name?

When I was growing up, I always wanted to know why I was named Jenny. Jennifer is my full name, but growing up, I was always called Jenny. When I asked my parents why they chose that name they told me that my sisters said, "Whatever you name her, we are going to call her Jenny," so that became my name. My full name is Jennifer Marie Kreis. My mom's and both of my grandmothers' names are Mary, so my middle name became Marie. My mom knew that I was going to be a girl, so she did not have a boy name picked out. On the list of the popular baby names for 1995, the name Jennifer is number 17. (http://www.babynamescountry.com/popular/1995_baby_names.html)

Everyone who has known me for a long time still calls me Jenny. Many people say that it is too weird for them to refer to me as Jen. Now that I am older, I always introduce myself as Jen, and that is what people I meet call me. I do not know many people my age or younger that have the name Jen. Anyone that I know with my name is older than I am, by at least a few years.

I have many nicknames that I have been called throughout the years. My uncle calls me Jenny Re, because of my first and middle names. I have been told that if my cousin's nickname was not Re, from her full name Annemarie, I would have been called Re in our family. My aunt calls me "the pup" or puppy dog because she thought that I had a face that looked like a little puppy dog when I was younger. My dad is one to always give nicknames to people. Some of my relatives were given the nicknames Foot, Shoe, Slab, Notz, Pene, JB, Cab, Curry, Chicken, and Hornhead. Many stories go along with these nicknames which go back years and years, and I am not even sure how all of these relatives have gotten their nicknames. In my immediate family, my dad calls my mom Septin or Shew. My dad and sister Kathy used to always read the book The Littlest Bunny together. Kathy’s nickname then became Bunny which became Bun, then Rabbit, and it is now Rabs. I rarely call her by Kathy, it is usually always Rabs. Even my dog Annie has a nickname, which is Wouse. My dad used to say that the kind of dog she is always likes to hunt things and search for things like a mouse. Annie was called Mouser, then it was shortened to Mouse, which became Wouser, and is now Wouse. My dad calls me Cat Dog because I used to love that show. He also shortens it to CD. I am also referred to as Jenny Penny. Lately, he has called me Donkey because of a Christmas song that we listened to and he thought that the song said “Jennifer the donkey.” As you can see, my family has a crazy relationship with unusual nicknames and funny stories behind them. All of these names sound extremely weird and bizarre, but they all have some sort of funny meaning behind them. I love that I am close with my relatives and that we have this sort of relationship.

I like being Jennifer, or Jen. I think that it is cute when people I have known for a while still call me Jenny. I don’t mind having odd or strange nicknames because it adds personality and character to my family.

Source:

Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.babynamescountry.com/popular/1995_baby_names.html>.