After talking with my Mom, I stand corrected. A few edits have been made...
Recently I was talking to one of my dear friends, Lisa (I never call her Lisa by the way, she is almost always referred to by me as "Fur".) about what she and her husband, Eric might name their baby. They are keeping the possible names a surprise, but we still had quite a time talking about it. We ended up discussing what our parents almost named us, and were in tears of laughter about it. I don't want to mention the names we thought were so hilarious because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings if they happen to actually have the name. It's just that we're so used to our own names, any other name seems crazy-funny.
Recently I was talking to one of my dear friends, Lisa (I never call her Lisa by the way, she is almost always referred to by me as "Fur".) about what she and her husband, Eric might name their baby. They are keeping the possible names a surprise, but we still had quite a time talking about it. We ended up discussing what our parents almost named us, and were in tears of laughter about it. I don't want to mention the names we thought were so hilarious because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings if they happen to actually have the name. It's just that we're so used to our own names, any other name seems crazy-funny.
During the same conversation, I told Lisa that when my Mom was pregnant with my older brother, she had loved the name Abigail. She shared her love of the name with someone, and got quite a negative response, which really hurt her. Then a coule years later after she went into labor with me as my Dad drove her to the hospital (after a youth group all-nighter, I believe- yuck! Thankfully our youth group doesn't do those, I'd never survive.) they talked again about the girl name they had picked- Joy Elizabeth (don't worry, that's not one of the funny names). Then my Mom said to my Dad, "I still like the name Abigail Joy". My Dad replied that he, too liked the name, and that's how it came to be.
They named me Abigail, choosing to call me "Abby" and I have always loved my name. I was the only Abby in my classes, and I think there was only one other Abby in my entire high school and college. My name was unique, and I felt special because of it. Until I started working with the teens at our church. THEN in my small group of girls, there were three Abby's out of eight girls. This year, there are about six or seven freshman named Abby. At summer camp, I think Abby was the most common name. I would constantly hear my name, turn around, and the person wouldn't be talking to me. Lame.
I text my Mom during camp and told her that I was no longer going by Abby. She told me she wanted me to go by Abby as a child, but thought I might want to switch to Abigail when I was an adult! So, I turned 30 this year, and though I still like the name Abby, I no longer feel unique. What better time to start going by Abigail than in my thirtieth year of life?
Abigail means, "Father's source of joy", and my father has reminded me my whole life I have lived up to my name. ;) I'm proud to be a source of joy for my father and my mother, and I'm proud my parents named me what they did.
Now for the switch. Whenever I meet someone new, I've got to say, "My name is Abigail", but it's hard. I feel uncomfortable because I've already had many friends, and even family members say they "can't" call me Abigail. What the heck? Yesterday we were at a youth staff meeting and I was bombarded with people saying, "We can't call you Abigail!" Come on people, how hard can it be?!
