I follow quite a few different blogs to inspire me and hand me a question for which to write and today’s question made me pause. “Say your name”. Sounds simple enough. The assignment is to edit your name and tag line, but I can’t and ultimately I won’t.

When I was young, and for many, many years, I disliked my name so much. Most people could not pronounce it so it became a nuisance to the point of not even correcting them. Others, who were much older, would recall an actress by the same name well before I was born and I didn’t care who she was for I was bored with the same story over and over.

My parents were very clear on how I received this name for it was not a whim, in fact, it was an all out brawl between my mother, her sisters, and ultimately my father stepped in and took control. You see, this is not a family name, nor was it the first choice. Giselle is the name of a ballet, beautiful, tragic, complex, with music that ebbs and flows and all the time while watching or listening to it, you are transported to another place. Wow that is so much to live up to, yes? On the same note (pardon the pun) it is also an amazing story which will stay with me as long as I can tell it.

More specifically, after my parents brought me home from the hospital with no name, my mother gave it her all and stuck to her guns and told everyone, her name will be Eugenie (and you though Giselle was a mouthful, right?) As a woman from a family of eight siblings, the sisters all voiced their concerns, mainly the relentless teasing from all the children in school and the community. After several days, my father came home from his long day of work to hear the ballet playing on the stereo. The rest is history.

In recent years something magical happened; I grew into the name, embraced it, became one of a kind. Although many people still mispronounce it, I don’t care because I know chances of them meeting another Giselle in person are slim.

So you see, I cannot change SimplyGiselle because that is exactly who I am, SimplyGiselle…no more, no less, and I have the story to prove it.

Say your name