September 9, 2022
Ding! You’ve Got a New Name
Day nine of the Refresh the Soul 30-day writing challenge
Day 9 prompt: Write about your name.
I hated my given name growing up. Ellen Theresa McFadden.
Okay, I loved my middle and last name but detested my first name. Ya know, the one everyone calls you by.
It wasn’t cute. It was “old” sounding. Boys called me “Allen” or “Helen.” As if those names were worse than “Ellen.”
When I went shopping with my friends, we would browse the personalized name gifts. Bookmarks. Keychains. Nameplates. Never an “Ellen” in sight. I felt left out.
Mind you, this was before Ellen DeGeneres rocked the name and even added our name to cool shirts, coffee mugs, and even underwear.
By the time she was famous, I had already taken things into my own hands. by changing my name. Well, not officially, but online, so that’s pretty close.
In the mid-1990s, I got my first desktop computer and set up my first non-school email account. AOL, baby.
