My family has an Ellis Island story and it goes like this. Our family name was Jablonsky. When my great grandfather came through Ellis Island, he wanted a nice American sounding name that had no ethnicity attached. The one that came to his mind was Levine – my maiden name.

Bill’s family name was Pschesslofsky – yes, with a “P”. Much too long for my father-in-law who decided to legally shorten it and drop the “P”.  I never met him but always thanked him.

When my son was about four years old, I remember taking him to nursery school one morning. Miss Carol stopped him at the door to ask “Who are you today?” He paused, thought for a moment and then said “Jason, call me Jason.” Apparently, my son Eric had taken on a new in-school personality.

Through fifth grade if anyone shortened my daughter’s name to Jacqui, it immediately raised her anger levels. She would respond succinctly, “my name is Jaclyn”. When Jaclyn was going into middle school (sixth grade), that all changed. She took on the name “Jackee” for all purposes – notice the spelling. We can tell how long her friends have been around based on which name they use for her. Of course, I can’t bring myself to call her “Jackee”. It just doesn’t sound right.

These family stories had me thinking about the choice of a name. Clearly, my family has made a number of choices over the years. Does your family have a name choice story? If you were to change your name, what would you choose?