Fearless Females Day 3 - Names

March is National Women’s History Month and +Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist has presented the genealogical community with 31-derful writing prompts to encourage us to share our female ancestors.

(I’m being fearless myself for posting this – love you, mom!)

I was named after my mother, and it’s something I always hated – well, that and the fact that I actually go by my middle name. Those two things have always been an inconvenience. If they phone rang and it was for “Linda” I always had to ask “Which one?” I never felt like I was “me” – I even had her department store credit card show up on my credit report (a card she opened the year I was born). Then there was the picture she had taken of me as an infant with this cute little hat on to see how much I looked like her.

But years have passed and I am decidedly my own person now. And I don’t mind the name so much anymore – in fact I named my own daughter “Melinda” in honor of my mother (and kind of in a humorous way because she is “Me, Linda”). Melinda also shares my maternal grandmother’s first name (she went by her middle name also) – Anne (well, grandmama’s first name was Annie, but close enough!).