Thursday, September 27, 2007

It’s all about the Name or is it?

This is my birth name Elizabeth Jane Wolfe. I was named after my grandmothers. I have grandma Eiler’s middle name Elizabeth and grandma Wolfe’s middle name Jane. I cringe at the thought of mom naming me their first names instead of their middle names. I would have been named Hilda Cora Wolfe. Anyway, when I married I became Elizabeth Jane Lally.
I have been practicing writing my name for my book signing. I have it down to two forms of my name and I am pondering over which name to put on my book cover. I thought Liz Lally would be catchy and it kind of flows when I write it. However Elizabeth Jane Lally has a hint of sophistication. But I never heard anyone ever describe me as being sophisticated. Should I add a little sophistication to my personality and be Elizabeth or should I be my humorous self and be Liz? My name and personality has gone through stages of change and development and I want my author name to illustrate this new part of my life.
I have been called a lot of names in my lifetime and not all of them I care to mention. However I am mostly called Betty. When I was a child everyone in my neighborhood called me Betty Jane and they still do to this day. When I was in the sixth grade my friends and I decided to change our names so I became Bess. Around this time the boys started to get a little obnoxious and tease us girls and since my last name was Wolfe they would howl like a wolf to get my attention. In ninth grade we decided we needed another name change so I became Bet. Then we thought it would be cool to call each other by our initials so I became BJ. In our senior year we decided we needed one more name change so I became Liz. At work and at Penn State I was called Elizabeth. After I married Tom some of our friends called me Lal.
When I started to write my book I felt like Liz should be my name but now that my book is almost finished I’m not sure how I want my name on the cover of my book.
Now which name should I put on the cover of my book?
Elizabeth Jane Lally or Liz Lally.

No comments: