Monday, May 14, 2012

i sing of Olaf

I’ve lived in Germany so long I’m thinking of changing my name to Wolfgang. I like it most because it’s got a wild animal in there, and though you may think it refers to a gang of wolves, “Gang” in English means “gait,” so it is more like “(s)he who walks like a wolf.” Which could practically be a movie.

Not for me Lothar or Uwe or Klaus or Ulrich. As for women’s names, well, there just aren’t any I’m crazy about, except maybe Kunigunde. But the last time a girl was given such a name was around 1230, so it would be difficult to wear comfortably. 

Most people have, at least as children, come up with a name they would have preferred to have. My son, for example, wishes I’d gone with Jack instead of Miles. An acquaintance, whose son’s name is Max, says the boy complains that that’s a dog’s name. 

I have wondered if we give our children the names we would have wanted for ourselves. For me it's not the case. When I chose my daughter’s name, Luisa, it struck me as a dark, sensual name because of the deep /u/, and very feminine. But it was never the case that I said, “I wish my name were Luisa.” And I never would have named my son, or daughter, Wolfgang.

10 comments:

Andrew Shields said...

I'm a bit partial to Thusnelda myself.

But my favorite archaic name for a man is Ethelred. Perhaps because I so often feel unready.

SarahJane said...

Thusnelda is a new (old) one on me. Cute. I never heard of Ethelred either. Why the 'unready?' The opposite of the Everred....

Dan Nielsen said...

Hello Sarah,

Your dark blue poem links are slowly turning light blue. So far flawless, but with risks taken. You are the best I've read in awhile. I'm proud to be in the same publication. And thanks for laughing at mine. I like being the clown. How can I get my chap book to you?

yrs,
Dan

SarahJane said...

Hi Dan -
Thanks for reading. Your poems were so funny, and I clicked on your Commodities story, too, which I really enjoyed. I would love to read your chapbook if you have an extra. Do you have an email contact at your blog that I could send my address to?
cheers

Dan Nielsen said...

Dear Sarah,

My email in now on the blog, under About. Good suggestion. You list Vincent Gallo as a favorite music (and Tom Waits twice)but not Buffalo '66 as a favorite movie. Odd.

I'm glad we've met.

yrs,
Dan

SarahJane said...

i like tom waits twice. it's like that Doors song, sort of.

Lady MacBeff said...

Sometimes German IT guys have names so fitting it's unbelievable. (Am I sufficiently discreet? If not, stop me!)

Silke is a German name I have mixed feelings about. And a poor Norwegian cousin of mine has a beautiful name that sounds exactly like "urine" when Yanks say it. Oh and my daughter might be Abigail if it weren't obscene in German.

SarahJane said...

I have known many Silkes. It's too obviously soft and pretty for me, being so close to lingerie fabric.

Oh you mean EE our techie?! He is still here, helpful as ever. smile.

Why would Abagail be obscene? I get the 'geil' part, but what's the 'aba?' Please enlighten your elderly friend.

Andrew Shields said...

Miles thinks people would make fun of it as "aber-geil."

I was careful that my Luisa's initials are LEID and not LAID.

Andrew Shields said...

No, her initials are LAED not LAID!

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