My Name and the Apostrophe

It took me a long while to really love my name. Mainly because my family is too lazy to pronounce it so I have gone by a nickname most of my life. I HATE my nickname: DeDee (or Dee or DD or just D… *insert eye roll here*). I used my nickname in school because it was easier on the teachers. I don’t think it would have mattered which name I went by to my classmates – they had a lovely time calling me DiDi7 which is some kind of cleaner 😅.

As an adult I LOVE my name. It’s unique, just like me. Even though most of the people I meet will never pronounce it correctly the first, second or even hundredth time I prefer to go by it or some variation 😂.

The best thing about my name is that it has an apostrophe in it. This confuses the hell out of some people when I’m spelling it out 🤣. The apostrophe usually turns up a bright red FORBIDDEN CHARACTERS notification when I’m filling out forms online. The following is one of the tamer examples:

That’s fine, I just take it out and leave the N capital. It really sucks though when it accepts it and then I get mail for Da or it shows up with some random code like this: Da&anNela.

I have proof that I do for sure have an apostrophe in my name (even though the DMV had to leave it out):

They used typewriters on birth certificates back in the middle ages when I was born 🤪.

My mother named me after two aunts on my father’s side of the family, Nela and Nedra. Somehow, she arrived at Da’Nela. So, my first name and my last name are the only things I have from his family, truly the only things I want to have from him.

My mum’s side of the family is full of unique and interesting names, especially after my cousins started having children. I think we were all in an unspoken competition to see who could come up with the most unusual name(s) possible. Poor kiddos 🤣. Ah well, it builds character! (6 reasons why having a unique name is better on odyssey)

You don’t have to have a quirky name to be unique or love your name. It is part of who you are and in its own way, describes a little bit of your life’s journey. Own it and show the world how awesome you are.

xoxo
Da’Nela, an American Misfit, [she/her/hers/trying to be humanish, maybe]