November 16, 2008 – What’s in a name?

I’ve never liked my name, Mary Lu. My whole name is Mary Luella. Put that with the maiden name of Pester and maybe you can see why I didn’t like being Mary Lu Pester. I like the name, Mary. But that name alone seems “prissy” and that isn’t me. I love the name Luella because that was my grandmother’s name. But the Lu alone with the Mary always seemed clunky and chunky to me. I think I turned into my name.

Besides Ricky Nelson putting a positive twist on the name, I still never really liked it.

When I got involved with the writing group, “Voices of Grace,” our leader Stephanie Porter mentioned that she liked my name. That piqued my curiosity. Why on earth would she like that name? So, I asked her. This is what she wrote.

Being southern, I guess, I have always liked the balance in a name. Indeed, I seek balance in a name hoping that it predicates balance in the person. Mary ….Lu speaks to a balance that balances the historically sound, biblically regal, if you will, with the socially astute, or favored. It is the name of someone on the balcony of an old plantation mansion overseeing cotton harvest party with a hot-off-the-press voting ballot in her bodice, ready to vote for the first time in her life or the life of her fellow women family members and friends.

NOBODY named “Mary” avoids the high moral standard invoked by the name and therefore doesn’t escape the comparison and assumed similarity society imposes on them. And “Lu” is the most playful word in the language, I think. It slides up the voice scale when it is said, the sound of it hangs in the air long after the word has been uttered and the mouth is now closed. It suggests loops and glides and sounds of sheer glee. Yet when coupled with “Mary” it remains grounded in the morally correct, historically proven.

I love juxtapositions, by nature. I love the serious, morally correct “Mary” set beside the playful “Lu” that suggests this person is morally sound but has a great time being so. The image this balance creates is an invitation to not just observe but to participate in the morally correct, fun experience of the person that carries this name

When I read Stephanie’s note about my name, I loved it. I think perhaps I am more like this description internally than the prissy, clunky, chunky one. Also, since I learned that Loo means ‘love’ in Scottish, I’ve decided the sound of my name ain’t so bad after all!