Game of the name....

Having run the Monday gauntlet and survived, life is looking up today. Annual performance review went rather well, and I'm hoping for a celebratory dinner at my favorite Irish place tonight. Whether I stitch afterward will probably depend on how many hard ciders I have...

And now for a little fun in the form of the Tuesday Twosome - 8/24/04: What's in a name...
1. What is your middle name and what does it mean?
I'm one of those oddball people who goes by her middle name. There seem to be various meanings for Belinda, depending on what baby book or website you look at. Most seem to have its meaning as "beautiful", being of either Spanish or Italian derivation, although I have seen "beautiful serpent" in a few places, such as the Canonical List of Evil Baby Names. (Hm...the Web seems to think I have an unfulfilled vocation as an evil genius...) I've even seen one baby book which lists its meaning as "dragon", which I thought was rather cool.

2. What are your favorite boy and girl names?
There are a lot of wonderful names - it would be very difficult to choose favorites from among them. Jason and Cecily have positive associations for me. Though if I had to pick a name for, say, a future child? Hm...Richard or Anne, maybe?

3. What are your least favorite boy and girl names?
Another toughie. Applying the 'future child' metric, it's probably safe to say I'd never name a child Henry or Hillary. No offense to any Henrys or Hillarys reading. I'm sure there are plenty of folks who wouldn't dream of naming their daughter 'Belinda'.

4. If you could change your name, what would it be and why did you choose that name?
Well, I did change my surname when I got married, partly because I absolutely hated my maiden surname. And no, I'm not going to post what it was.
Otherwise, I'm quite happy with "Belinda".

5. What two nicknames are you most often called?
Does "Mom!" count? "Bel" or "B" put in the occasional appearance, but usually I don't really go by a nickname.