But I do not know of any single term to describe someone who has two actual first names. So perhaps I should invent a new descriptive term…..What about "bi-namial" (pron. bi-name-i-al)? Or "dual name-izen"? Or even "dopplenamer"? I like that one, but if anyone has any better ideas let me know and I will ask Mr. Webster to include it in the next edition of his dictionary….;)

You may be wondering why I still carry my dad’s name. By the time I married my husband I was well established in our little hospital as the only dietitian in our small town, so I did not want to confuse the issue by changing my name. Then my Mom moved to town, and we had a lot of fun with our matching names. One time when I was only about 39, someone wished me happy birthday in October when my birthday is in April, because they had "seen my name" in the Senior Center Birthday list. I was shocked, and wondered to myself if I already looked old enough to be on that list!

And then there was the time that a lady came to the hospital because the doctor had told her to see me for a diet instruction. When I introduced myself she told me emphatically that she knew that person, and I was not her. I explained as gently as I could that there were 2 of us, and then we had a good laugh. Doctor’s appointments were always a circus, because invariably they would pull the wrong chart for the doctor. All this might have seemed to be a good reason to change my name when the opportunity arose, but as long as we kept our banking separate, the confusion merely made life interesting and unique. However, the biggest reason of all to keep my name was to honor my father, since my sister and I are the last of his line. At least his name will live as long as we do.

When I wrote HELLO MYRMIDON I decided to use the name that I have had the longest, and which identifies me as a person better than my other names. I am sure that some people will assume that I chose it because angels are trendy now, so that it will draw more attention, but that is far from the truth. From the beginning, my folks read THE LITTLEST ANGEL children’s book to me so often that we wore out one copy completely and had to replace it. For the rest of my life until she passed away, my mom continued to send me books, pictures, and figurines of angels. So much so that I once said to her "enough with the angel stuff, Mom". It may have slowed a bit but it never did stop until she went to join the angels in heaven. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so it will be a very auspicious time to discuss how this association with angels, thanks to my mother, changed my life in a big way.