Having read the below, vote for a new middle name for me! (new!)
Yes, folks, it is the FAQ of Elizabeth's name. Is it just me or do I need to come up with some more interesting content for this page? No, actually, I got this idea from Alan Terlep. He is cool.
What is you real name and how did you get it?
How do people usually react when hearing your name?
What kinds of Wrigley Field/Cubs paraphernalia do you have floating around your home?
You should enter the MTV Cool Name Contest!
What is the official Chicago Cubs stance on you and your name?
What names will your kids have?
What's your favorite baseball team? Baseball stadium?
Coming soon...my favorite Wrigley Field trivia
What is your real name and how did you get it?
Well, my full name is Elizabeth Innes Wrigley-Field, or at least, that's what I consider to be my name.
My parents named me Elizabeth Innes Field; my mom's last name is Wrigley and my dad's is Field but they thought it would subject me to too much teasing to have my last name be Wrigley Field. Innes was my maternal grandmother's maiden name and my mom wanted something from her family in my name, hence the middle name. (Personally, although I love my name in general, I do not like the Innes part. It requires too much explanation.) The "Elizabeth" is after the main character in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, my mom's favorite book. (Incidentally, my parents almost named me Kyren (I'm not sure if I spelled that right) after the beer.)
In first grade, both to have the last name of a baseball park and to have the last names of both my parents (I was actually a feminist of sorts as early as kindergarten, although I must confess to holding sexist views in preschool. I've got it all on vidoetape, too. Terribly upsetting. But I digress.), I "changed" my name to Elizabeth Innes Wrigley Field, with "Wrigley Field" as the non-hyphenated double last name. However, I never had it legally changed and LA schools go by what's on your birth certificate, so it wasn't until we moved to NY for 3rd grade that it was my name as recognized by the school system.
I kept my name unhyphenated for a long time but it created so much mass confusion that I now sometimes hyphenate and sometimes don't (as if that's any less confusing...). You have my permission to write it either way when you refer to me, but please make sure in those situations that my name is prefaced with the appropriate "The Uber-Genius Superior Fantastic Ms.". Thank you.
How do people usually react when hearing your name?
Well, I must say, it varies quite a bit. Most people are surprised, some people start to laugh, and many people make jokes. Of the joke-makers, a large proportion begin their jokes with "You must get jokes like this all the time...". A few people have actually become rather angry, as if they struggle to understand how that could be, but comprehend they cannot (even after I explain it in painstaking detail). I once had a substitute who after trying endlessly to pronouce it (saying "It's like the baseball park in Chicago...where the Cubs play?" helped no more than did "It's like the gum company, and then field. Like, er, Strawberry Fields, or Mrs. Fields, except without the 's'...?") became very upset and exclaimed "Is this a foreign name?!" But the annoying people (no offense to them) are the ones who say, "Oh, did you know that's a baseball park?" NOOOOOOOOOOO. Now, honestly, do these people really think that even had that not been a major consideration in the making of my name, nowhere along the line would I have found that out from someone else? Sheesh.
What kinds of Wrigley Field/Cubs paraphernalia do you have floating around your home?
Glad you asked! At present I have:
You should enter the MTV Cool Name Contest!
People tell me this all the time. You know what? I already entered, and won. I decided to enter after I saw it one day. (This guy named Chase David Hooker--get it, Chase D. Hooker?--won.) They called me to confirm that it really was my name (I almost had to fax them my school ID card for proof) and read my letter explaining my name on the air. I heard from someone else, a little while later, that they used me for advertising the contest too. Kennedy allegedly said, "So, if your last name happens to be Wrigley Field or something, enter the Cool Name Contest by writing to....!" I think that's pretty cool.
What is the official Chicago Cubs stance on you and your name?
You know what, I wrote their general manager in 4th grade and got a letter back. As soon as I find the letters (I just saw theirs to me recently, and mine to them is on my old computer somewhere), I'll put them both online. (Lawyerly people, would this be a breach of their copyright?)
What names will your kids have?
Their last name WILL be Wrigley Field. (Or Wrigley-Field.) Seriously, I've had too much fun with my name not to pass it on to my kids. Their father will have to settle for having his kids have his last name as a middle name. Maybe I'll give him choice over the first name though, to make up for it. (But I doubt it.)
What's your favorite baseball team? Baseball stadium?
What do YOU think?
© 1997 crimsonglow@mindless.com
Get your own Free Home Page