What's In A Name

Anne Elizabeth Helen Snow White
Anne after the mother of Mary.  Elizabeth after the cousin of Mary and the mother of John the Baptist.  Elizabeth is also my maternal grandmother's name.   Helen, my confirmation name.  It is also my paternal grandmother's name.  Snow is my maiden name.  I used that for twenty years.  I had always planned to hyphenate my maiden name with my married name and had expected to have a liberal enough husband that he would do the same.  White is my married name.  I have had that name for nearly twenty two years.  I am not hyphenated.  I did not have a liberal husband.  In fact, I had a very traditional husband that had very hurt feelings when I suggested that I would like to hyphenate my name.  I also had a husband in the Marine Corps who would, under no uncertain terms, be PFC Snow-White.  I see his point. 
The SNOW - WHITE wedding announcement from the newspaper was featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in his Headlines segment and in National Lampoons Weird Headlines book.  In fact, that might be the only reason we got married, because our last names fit so well together.  Oh, and our first names are the same as the coon hounds in "Where the Red Fern Grows".  In the story, the young boy finds "Dan + Anne" carved in a tree.  The dogs end up being called Old Dan and Little Anne.   Great book!
If you knew me between the years of 1969-1990 then you probably called me Annie.  I was not fond of Annie.  I am only called Annie when I go back to Cedar Rapids.  Except for this one Catholic Irish guy, he calls me Annie and I find it adorable. 
If you knew me between the years of 1985-1988 then I probably introduced myself as An.  I found the second N and E to be useless and chose not to use them.  After my trip to Europe in 1987, I preferred to have my name pronounced with a long A.  That never caught on.  Luckily, when I returned to Europe in 1994, they were still pronouncing my name like that!
Between the years of 1990-2006, I was White's Wife.  That was how I was always introduced.  We would be at a military function where wives would be in attendance.  The husbands would introduce me to their wives as "White's Wife".  I would shake their hand, learn their first name and share with them my first name.  I have always loved being referred to as White's Wife.  That just might be my third favorite name.
The second favorite is Honey.  I have been Honey to My Honey for a very long time.  Danny calls me Honey more than he calls me, Anne.  He never calls me, Annie.
My most favorite name is Momma.  As the kids have grown, that name has changed and morphed into other names.  I have been Mom, Mother, MOTHER (that's when I am not paying attention), Mommy (when Hayley wants to irritate me) and the latest, Bomb-ba.  That is one of those words that started out as momma and just ended up like that.
 I had a few nicknames when I was little.  Careless Love, because I was always breaking things, I guess.  Annie Go Wash, because I did not wash my hands at my grandparents house after I went to the bathroom.  I don't remember how old I was when either of those names took hold.  I still get called Careless when I am around the old IC people (IC is our family church). 
So, what's in a name?  For me, a little and a lot.  No one in West Des Moines knows me as a Snow, but when I go back to Cedar Rapids, that is who I am.  Even though I don't use that name, it is a part of my identity.  I will never use my confirmation name, but I love having Helen attached to me.  Not because it is my confirmation name, but because it was the grandma I never knew.  I don't get bothered by the people that mistakenly call me Annie.  In fact, if it is an old guy, I kinda like it.  I think there was a time when I wanted something more exotic then Anne.  At least Snow was different.  Then I married a White.  Run my credit report, there are thousands of Anne White's in this country and one of them did not pay her Sears bill!
So I didn't get my exotic after all, unless you consider Bomb-ba.