Apparently everyone does it; cruises along on some great zeitgeist, where all the thoughts an d ideas we have are are actually shared by most of our generation. It's a Noosphere, it's a Collective Consciousness, it's all in the memes..
Or put it another way. Back in the 1960's, when my mum and dad first looked at their new infant daughter and decided that the name MACY was radical and original, and memorable.. well thousands of other parents were thinking exactly the same thing.
Especially in Scotland...
Since starting work at the renowned Institute, I have found out exactly how unoriginal they were.
Not only is my Financial Director called Macy, but two of my budget holders are also called Macy.
That's on the third floor. Elsewhere in the institute there are a further THREE Macys at work.
Since there are only 130 people working at the institute worldwide* that means that about 10% of the female workforce in the Institute are called MACY.
HA! And it gets better. Because we are in Scotland - four of us are called Macy Mac...
Oh how we laughed when a dignified trustee sent an effusive e-mail to Macy (Me) inviting me out to lunch. He meant the other Macy of course..
But over the past five months, the joy of e-mails sent to the wrong person, or confusion over which Macy's office we are to meet in has worn off.
My team don't think it's funny anymore when they have to explain that no Macy can't meet with Macy at short notice because she's in a meeting with Macy. No not that Macy the other one...
I've been asked if I have a nickname they could use instead.
And I do .... but it's the one I use on my blog...
28 July 2010 at 21:28
It's funny how that goes. When I started primary school there were about a thousand Nicolas and Karens and Shonas in my class. I think maybe Scots of the past stayed with tradition much of the time. You never ONCE found a Florence or an Esmerelda. :)
28 July 2010 at 22:09
Funny, I don't come across other Nicks very often (despite the previous comment). I was actually called Nicky for most of my childhood, which probably explains my bizarrely androgynous identity.
What would really alarm me is if my name was shared with some infamous criminal like Harold Shipman or Peter Sutcliffe.
29 July 2010 at 02:02
I was the only 'Mapstew' in my school. Everybody else was either Paddy Murphy or Pat Ryan! Including the teachers. And they were NUNS! :¬)
xxx
29 July 2010 at 08:22
Veg - Luckily the traditions of AGNES and MORAG have died out lately...
Nick - Agreed on the murderer's name curse. I've got an aunt Myra. Don't think she ever got away from the image of the moors murderer...
Mapstew - Visionaries! Your parents were visionaries!
29 July 2010 at 11:08
People were so sheep-like in the 60's. I was only saying this the other day to Moon-Unit Zappa and Zowie Bowie.
29 July 2010 at 23:08
I constantly have to spell my first name and last. People like sticking a 'y' on the end of my first and then get uppity when I correct them about the 'e' they want to add on the end of my last name. Honestly.
30 July 2010 at 12:33
Och, and then they give you your mothers maiden name as a second christian name or the maiden name of your paternal Granny
So I ended up with the same second christian name as my mother---thank god my granny was a Malcolm---thank god they didn't give me the Danish spelling of my given name
30 July 2010 at 20:29
Now Rog, we can't all mix in the same rarified social circles of East Angular as you y'know..
Roses - And English people have a terrible problem with my surname. I think they're worried about sounding as if they have a fake scottish accent.. as if...
Clyde - Um because the Danish version of Clyde is, erm, Claeydeborg?
17 August 2010 at 21:00
There are a hundred and sixty three listings for Barb McMahon on Facebook.
It's hard to feel special....
17 August 2010 at 22:50
Barb - But look! You're the one and only Barb McMahon on this blog. :)
20 August 2010 at 22:12
Now I feel special! Thank you!