As Alicia (Bighead's real name) gets ready to leave today, I've been thinking about names. She and Catherine (Pinhead) have a different last name than mine, and sometimes I wish they didn't. I guess I wish they could join the zillions of other Murphy's out there whose last name is the "Smith" of the Irish. Their last name comes from their German heritage, and they can trace that heritage way back. What they get from my side of the family is the knowledge that my grandmother and her mother left England and a tyrannical husband/father (my grandmother's words, not mine) to go to NYC and work as maids in huge houses. Their grandfather's father left Ireland (with the law on his tail) to become a NYC employee. And on my mother's side of the family, all I know is that they were all Irish (with a wee bit o' Welsh) and had always lived in NYC.
My name came from my two aunts -- Grace and Eleanor Lamb. I'm named after their middle names, sort of. My mother didn't relish the name Eleanor, so my middle name is Ellen. Patricia Ellen Murphy, pretty bland.
But you know I love my name. When it was Billman I was always sort of put out when people asked if I was of German descent. Nothing against Germans, mind you, but there's not one speck of German in me. When I "got my name back" I really started thinking about what it meant to me in a different way. I didn't forget and sign checks with my old name, well once but years later, and by that time I was senile. I stepped right back into being Patricia Ellen Murphy, with one difference. When I came back to the East, my mother's dream came true; people started calling me Patricia. Cool, very grown up. Some people call me Murf, even cooler.
So, how'd you get your name? Yeah, I'm really interested and not just using this as an excuse to write about how fascinating my little name and life are. If you haven't read Jessica's comments on family traditions, do so immediately. They are hilarious.
So my daughter, Alicia Vida, is leaving today and I hope you feel sorry enough for me to post about your name. You should feel sorry for me because she refuses to take the dog with her. Whatchu got?
wouldn't it be nice if mine weren't parked in the snow?
yikes
My Pops, Vinnie Murphy
who'd a thought 97 could be so cute!
the Moms, aka Catherine Murphy
is my mama adorable, or what?
Mark Doty
Portland Santacon
Manda and me on Thanksgiving
trying not to crack up too much. I gotta say I love my family.
It won't look like this
He da man, oh yeah!
too bad his last book sucked
This?
Or This?
You decide
Better Days
My hero
She's cute, but she's nuts!
nice segueway, huh?
My Hero
I am
- Patricia Murphy, a resident of
- the Village of Clinton, New York, United States
- I'm a college writing teacher and graduate of Idaho State University's soon-to-be-defunct Doctor of Arts Program. I write poetry and read it sometimes at local venues. I like nice people, no matter what their age, race, orientation, whatevah. I don't want to embarrass anyone, but I have the most wonderful boyfriend in the world.
Yeah, this guy wasn't there
Astroland
Utica Erie Canal Fall
This is what I have to look forward to
Utica Winter
And then this . . .
Gotta Love Summer!
chillin' at D's house, minus the glasses
Jeez!
Can you believe I gave birth to these two?
Clinton, NY
town square
5 comments:
The history of why my name is Nicholas Pasquale Gasparovich.
My biological father's name was Donald... which I was to be named... unless, my mother stipulated, I was born on Christmas, in which case, I would be named Nicholas.
And so I was born, Nicholas Pusey. (Notice no middle name! Mom didn't give me one because she didn't have one)
About 16 years later, I decided that I wanted the man that raised me (I call him dad) to be my legal father, so I was legally adopted. In the adoption, I was to become Nicholas Gasparovich. For you all that know me, I don't do anything small, so I decided that I'd add a middle name while I was at it (to my parents expense as I later found out later).
In my great deliberation for a middle name, I decided on one that my mother had entertained for me... my great grandfather's name (her mother's father), Pasquale. (The only reason why she decided against that as my first name is that the nickname for Pasquale is "Patsy", and her son wasn't going to be anybody's patsy). I, however, decided that it would be a fantastic middle name... something about "Nicholas Pasquale Gasparovich" sounds official...
Now I have one more, unofficial, name (Louis), that's my confirmation name. Normally people pick saints or famous religious people for their names... Instead of following the norm, I chose my late godfather's name (Louis)... even though he passed away well before I could ever remember him, the stories I hear are all about how great of a man he was... and if there was anyone in the world that I wish I could met in my adulthood, it would be him.
So that's it... that's how "Nicholas Pusey" became "Nicholas Pasquale Louis Gasparovich"... such a short name to something nobody wants to even start saying :-)
Wow Nick, that's quite a story. Thanks for commenting. I was wondering where you had got to. I miss you tons. When you coming to CNY again?
I was born Teresa May Risley. It's funny that Nick wrote about changing his name because that is exactly what I did when I was nine-years-old.
My bio-dad was out of the picture, so my dad that raised me is the name I changed it to. I became Teresa May Roberts.
Then, when I got married, I made my last name my second middle name and became Teresa May Roberts Washburn. For the first several years I was married I insisted official papers and magazine subscriptions listed me as Teresa M.R. Washburn. I thought my name was all that and the frosting on a cupcake.
That is, I thought it was until one day when the mail carrier delivered came to my door with a perplexed look and handed me my Martha Stewart Living magazine addressed to "Mr. Teresa Washburn." See what they did there??
Let's see my name is Jessica Ann Rowe, and I got it pretty simply.
Up until I was born, I was Johnathan Allen Rowe, and when I popped out female they decided to go with the first girl name that they could come up with starting with 'J' and that was 'Jessica' (my father's choice) My mother then picked my middle name, which is also her middle name, Ann. I don't have any humorous stories about my last name, other than I know that it was changed way back when from Rowland, to Rowe when my family immigrated to the America's. Apparently people in my father's family were persecuted for their religion and they had to disguise the last name to stop the persecution.
I also added in Therese as a confirmation name, but that won't be settled on paper till I legally change it when I get married.
My full first name is Clarkson. Did you know that from ISU days? I don't recall. Maybe you were one of the ones who called me Clarkson to get on my nerves.
My mother got it from a romance novel. If I looked like Fabio, that would make sense. Alas...
Lloyd is my middle name. It's also my dad's middle name and my youngest son's middle name. You may be detecting a trend here ...
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