Friday, September 30, 2011

the daily vee: 27sept2011

what's in a name?

early on
in
the
having-a-baby
discussion
grub and i
decided that
if it was
a girl
i would pick the name
and
if it was
a boy
grub would pick the name.
we both would
have veto power
but
should exercise it
with restraint.

most people
of my generation
seek names
that are unusual.
many of my friends
named their kids
names that i hadn't
heard before
and
then suddenly
it seemed
everyone had
collectively
named
their
kid
austin,
ruby,
atticus,
or
{fill in unusual name}.
it was like
we all shared
a collective
unconsciousness
in the naming
department.

i decided that
i wanted
to name
our daughter
after
an important
woman in my family.
someone i wanted
her to remember.
the choice
was simple
in my case...
my grandmother
valerie.

i never really
knew my grandmother
but always wished
i did.

valerie1

valerie dhervilliez
was
my father's mother.
she was born
in nancy, france
and orphaned
during
the first world war.
she lived with
her grandfather
until he died
and then
was shuffled
around from
relative to relative
until
she was 16
and left france
to live with
her aunt in nyc.

valerie2

we shared
so many loves.
she was crafty.
she embroidered,
knitted,
and crocheted.
she
salvaged items
from the trash
and
brought home
finds
from antique stores
(much to
my grandfather's chagrin).
when she traveled
she put together
detailed scrapbooks
weegrub_scrapbook
and photo albums
with careful documentation
of everything
they did.

she died
when i was 5.
i have
few
scant
memories of her.
the one
i remember
most clearly
was of her
cooking
my brother and i
breakfast.
she was
pouring me
a glass of
orange juice
into
one of those
glasses
with the
oranges painted
on the side.

. . . . .

flynn,
on the other hand,
is one of those
trendier names
but both
grub and i
liked it.
the nurse
practitioner
who we saw
throughout
the pregnancy
in the states
was k. flynn.
we decided
that boy or girl
we would give
them flynn
as a middle name.

valerie_29sept

grub calls her flynn.
i call her vee.
but of course
oma calls her
valerie.

xo

valerie: 30sept2011

12 comments:

  1. thanks so much for sharing this story!
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  2. lovely story. whenever i have kids, i defnitely plan to name them after one or more of our grandparents. luckily, i have a few lovely names to choose from.

    she's beautiful, gwen!

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  3. I love that last picture!! Peek-a-boo little Valerie Flynn!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Is she the relative beloved by all of you who salvaged that chair with the lions on the armrests? Family names are a wonderful homage. My sister named both her children after our elders.

    Your daughter is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just adore the little Valerie Flynn. And... my gosh you look like your Grandmother!! I always wondered who you looked like in your family.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @eero: yep that's
    the same relative.
    she found the lion chair
    on the curb when someone
    threw it out...
    the fabric was
    ripped up but
    as my mom said,
    "like a true
    french woman
    she saw its potential."

    ReplyDelete
  7. Valerie is such a cute name. Very popular (well, not too popular...just perfect!) where I live. Adorable pictures xox Also, love the story.

    ReplyDelete
  8. you do look like your grandma... she sounds amazing.

    i think it's great that you incorporated both the historical and more unusual naming aspects. i like vee as a nick name too....
    can't wait to meet her !
    hugs

    ReplyDelete
  9. she is so sweet. love her name!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Found your blog through unruly little things. Oh that newborn pose of hands up near the face! Makes me miss my little daughter at that age.

    My husband is swiss (from Basel), I am American + we're moving back there soon. What a coincidence!

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a lovely post - and a lovely name. It is funny and interesting how trends in names go - lately the playground we go to has sounded like a British Gardening Club circa 1919 - Fiona, Eloise, Henry, Magnus etc.

    ReplyDelete
  12. this is such a beautiful naming story. i would love to name a little girl after my grandmother one day, if things work out in that way, we'll see :) your grandma valerie sounds like she was an amazing woman. i love flynn, too (and vee is such a good nickname!) xo

    ReplyDelete

thanks so much
for stopping by...
hope to see you again
soon.
xo