Friday, October 14, 2011

The Girls Who Name Things

One of the quirks I have always loved about Sloane is the way that she names absolutely everything. She has named the preying mantis she discovered and kept for a day (Amen), her grandparents' car (Bob), even the regular route we drive (Home, James). I find that adorable. So it was pretty funny when I realized that it was a habit that came directly from me. I name things, too. I almost always name the things that I use regularly.

Since I was 15 and got my first car, I have named every one of them. As to the car I drive now, it took me years to discover his real name. It's Bic. You know? As in Bic pens. They sure aren't fancy. They aren't gel pens and they don't write in great colored ink, but they get the job done. Dependably and reliably. Every time. Yup. He may not be fun, but he's dependable. He's Bic.
Meet Bic.

Meet Gareth
What kind of things do you name? Or do you name anything but people and pets?

24 comments:

Lubna said...

I don't really give names, but I say hello to my lap top every morning, when I switch it on. ;-)

Jennifer Richardson said...

Boy, are we cut from the same cloth!
I name squirrels that frequent the back yard, veggies growing on the vines, and every stuffed animal or carving I've ever had.
And of course our pets...they're given
fairy elaborate voices and distinctive personality traits
to go along with their names.
Cars, tools, my guitar.....
(no body parts)
Funny:)
-Jennifer

Debbie said...

I name everything from my car, Coco, to my ipod, Dahling.

Unknown said...

I not only name things, I talk to them. It's a little disconcerting if you don't know me - probably disconcerting if you do.

I had a wonderful book of poetry when I was young, in which I named everyone in every illustrations, then put a list of the names I hadn't used in the back.

Unknown said...

Lubna, I once programmed a computer to greet me in the morning when I turned it on "Hello Gorgeous" then give me the weather, a joke, and put me in the right directory for my working day.

I had a lot of fun with UNIX.

Debby said...

I give all my littles different names. N
ot on purpose it just happens......Goose, K. Bug, Doodle, Elli Belly, Miss O, Annabella....there are some that don't get them.
My grandson names their VW van Betty White......he was three,, cute, huh.

HKatz said...

That's so cute. And I love that your car is named after a handy pen. You capture the essence of what a Bic pen is in your post.

Growing up there were pet frogs in our house (with my parents' reluctant agreement...) Those got named, each and every one (plus the hermit crabs, the freshwater crabs, the toads, most of the fish, the newts, the hamster, the mouse...)

Dutchbaby said...

I'm a namer too. My cars: Volkswagon Rabbit (Peter), Honda Accord (Fenry Honda), Volvo station wagon (Helga). My GPS's all are named after Peter Pan characters because they hang out with the Lost Boys (Tinkerbell, Wendy, Mrs. Darling). I think it makes life interesting and I'm glad to know that Sloane has learned this secret.

Marilyn Miller said...

I don't tend to name things. I am a fairly straight forward kind of girl. Sometimes I wish I would give names and words and embellish, but I don't often do it. As a girl I did have a fish pond in our yard and named many of the fish there. Now I must think about this. Oh my husband named our GPS Mimi Two, as I am Mimi One and he says he now has two Mimi's to tell him what to do.

Anita said...

Your daughter is so creative and unique, probably a lot like her mother.
Blessings,
Anita

Lubna said...

Marilynne/Writer Lady: That must have been FUN!!!

Georgianna said...

How darling, Relyn! It's part of creating one's own magical universe, isn't it? I do name things, not everything, like, not the blender or something. :) Around here, computers all have names, for example. D's motorcycle is called Suzi, (never "the motorcycle"), as in "I think I'll take Suzi for a drive this weekend." :)

Chris Graham said...

Relyn,
I love it!!!! And it would be so much fun to start doing that.
Have a beautiful Sunday.

Tracy said...

haha... This is so sweet & fun! And I can relate, as I name everything too. My sewing machine in Lucy, laptop is Zelda, just everything has or gets a name. I have a thing for words and names, so there ya go. ;o) Happy Weekend, Relyn! Oh, stop by if you get a chance. I'm having a teeny, tiny giveaway for autumn. ((HUGS))

Karen said...

This made me chuckle as we always name our vehicles...Eveready (never quits), The Boat (big old car that belonged to my mom), Brownie, Old Red, etc. Sometimes it takes a while to pick the name though. The tractors on the ranch always get named, too. And of course all the pastures have to have a name so you know which one is which. The names have been passed down for 4 generations and are named after old homesteads that were once in that pasture. Your post made me stop and think about all the things we name in our lives.

beth said...

we've name our cars....and our gps voices....and of course all the creatures the kids saved throughout the years were all given names....but that's about it :)

Elizabeth Halt said...

I name things, and then I immediately forget what I've named them. I was trying to remember what I named my camera and computer the other day and could not, for the life of me, remember. And I named the computer in August only. ;) Mostly I name things in the moment.

Amy said...

I name all sorts of things ... naturally! I imagine it's the reason I have a hard time parting with inanimate objects. :)

Anonymous said...

What a great post! The power of naming. (Isn't that one of the keys to the denouement of A Wrinkle in Time?) In our family, we all name some inanimate objects - though our current car doesn't really have a name (the others were Winnie, Bluebird, the Silver Fox). But we, and particularly our daughter, seem to invent endless nicknames for one another. My husband is 'Hub-Dub,' I am 'Bud-Bud,' and the cat is 'Hug-Mug'. Just yesterday my husband discovered a Shakespearian word for wife: kickie-wickie! So that's another nickname for me...

susanna said...

Hey there, Bic and Gareth!

Well, if we were parked next to one another, I would introduce Bic to Libby (my Jeep Liberty).

During our girls roadtrip through Quebec last year, my mom called our gps, Darling. Mind you, at one point she thought that there actually was a darling giving us driving directions. Oh mom...so cute... ;p

Jaime said...

Bic..I love that.

I have been trying to find the right name for my cursed 4 year old car for 4 years now. It truly is cursed. So many things have happened to that poor car in its short little life...I can't wait to trade it in!
(and only one of the things that happened was my fault, so I am not cursed...just the car...just sayin')

Dewey Setlak said...

You got your first car at the age of fifteen? You have a car, but I assume you were not allowed to drive it yourself, right? I got my first car when I was 21. Actually, not the first car that I drove, but it was the first one that I earned on my own.

-Dewey Setlak

Unknown said...

Giving names is the best way to show possession plus, it’s a girl thing. Wow! You got your own car at the age of 15? Well, I got mine when I was 16, but I wasn’t allowed to drive it on my own until I reached 19. By the way, I named my first car after my crush -- which I will not tell. Haha!

-Nettie Christensen

Ivo Beutler said...

I name something to show possession. Anyway, I got my very first car when I was 15 too, but wasn’t allowed to drive it 'til I got my driver’s license. I’m still thankful that at a young age I already own a car! I can still remember what name I gave my first car and it’s “Yogurt’.

-Ivo Beutler

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