Yesterday, I met my new neighbors.  Very nice people.  Her name is Mary Ellen.  His name is Rusty.  Rusty Coffin.  I looked at him and said, “Now why did your momma do that to you?”  He just grinned and said, “I guess she had a sense of humor!”

Since I met them, I’ve been thinking about names.  Some of them can’t be helped, as in the case of my dear friend–a preacher’s wife mind you–named Pamela Anderson.  She married into that one.  But then there are the Rustys in the world.  His parents did that to him.  As I grew up in Orange, Texas, I always heard about the Hogg family who named their daughters Ima and Ura.  I think that may have been a joke, but there was a Hogg family there and it was Orange, Texas, so who knows.  Vickie’s mom (both Vickie and her mom are friends here in Murfreesboro) was named Betty White when she was born.  But, of course, her name changed when she got married.  Then her name was Betty Davis.  

When I was bouncing names around while I was expecting my boys, I tried to think of any nicknames that could arise out of each name considered.  I liked the names Brendan and Brandon, but Jonathan’s dad was afraid he would be called Brenda or Brandy.  So those names got nixed.  Ryan picked the name for Krystal, because he wanted his daughter to be named that.  Well, that took care of that…..you don’t name your child after a family dog.  I wanted Casey’s name to have a K sound.  I thought about Cooper, but was afraid there would be confusion in the house when I called for him.  Would Goober come running?  As most of you know, my former husband has the lovely name of Paul, but everyone in Orange, Texas called him Goober.  I can now call him Paul, but when I met him, he was introduced to me by that name and I figured he was like Goober Pyle.  But nothing was further from the truth. He was and is a brilliant intellect.  And I don’t know if it was an omen or if we were made for each other, but we rarely carved our initials in trees while we were dating.  You see, my maiden name is McKenzie.  PP + BM seemed right up there with Ima Hogg.

UPDATE ALERT!
I just got off the phone with my mom and there WAS an Ima Hogg! She isn’t sure about Ura. Wow……