Susan

[susandennis]

In 1949, creative naming of babies was not a thing. That year, the most common name for girls was Linda. And, that was my parents' first choice for me, their first baby. But, they had a dog named Linda so I got choice number 2. Susan. Susan was the 5th most common name that year. But in Winston-Salem, NC it was tops.

I rarely had fewer than 5 or 6 other Susan's in my class at school. We were kiddy litter sprinkled all over everywhere. When I was still in elementary school, I thought Diedre was the perfect name for me and no, you would not be allowed to call me DeeDee. In Junior High, I changed my imaginary name to Stuart. Also changed my last name to Caldwell. Often when I met strangers, like on a bus or something, I'd tell them my name was Stuart Caldwell.

When I went to a fancy private high school where many of the girls had been given their mother's maiden name for first name. Brooke, Gray, Marshall... Susan was even stupider sounding there but there were fewer of us.

When I was in my 30's, I got online for the first time. Electronic Bulletin boards. The other people on those EBBS were male people. Mostly kids. I used the 'handle' Susan and got me some attention. Those kids were thrilled to talk to an actual girl and, in turn,they taught me probably 50% or more of what I know about computers today. Had my name been something less feminine, I'd probably be a retired shoe salesperson with a rotary dial land line and a diary with a lock and key.

Now Susan a name reserved mostly for old ladies - at least the ones left. After 70 years, I've gotten used to it. It's an ok name.

Comments

[arrowlike.livejournal.com]

We have a little girl at my school named Susan. She’s six and goes by Suzi- it suits her perfectly!

[susandennis]

When you are the only one...

My family called/calls me Susie :)

[christalin80.livejournal.com]

I was called Suzi as a kid, now I call myself Geezer Gal, lol.

[meowmensteen]

I grew up with a Susan, but you're right, I don't hear of kids with it much more these days.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

My mom's name is Susan. It's true that names go in generational cycles.

[howeird]

My 1949 sister was supposed to be named Barbara but a cousin of my mother beat her to it, so they took Brian, the name they had picked out if it was a boy, and named her Briana. The first other Briana she knew was actually named after her. Somehow it is now a lot more common in one spelling or another.

Howard was a very common name in my suburban NY neighborhood, but it was close to unique in Seattle except as a surname.

I ran a BBS from about 1981-1994. Women were rare elsewhere, but in the Bay Area especially Santa Cruz to San Jose we had regular users parties which were about 1/3 female. However, only one sysop was a woman. She went on to be an engineer at AutoCAD and later worked on the first Mac. Another became a veterinarian, another is a medical device QA chemist, and one got married and is a guard at Folsom prison.

[silviarambles]

I like the name Susan. My name was also insanely popular in my generation so at school there would always be at least 2-3 Silvias. I think I didn't like it much because of it, but now that it's less popular and I don't bump into as many Silvias I like it a lot more.

[annabelle50.livejournal.com]

I am an Anne, which is a pretty uncommon name for my generation. I did go to school with two Susans though, so there are at least a few of them in their late 30s that still exist, haha.

I love that you wanted to be called Stuart.

[maju01.livejournal.com]

My name (Judith/Judy) was quite common in my generation. I have almost always been in the same class or worked with someone or more than one someone around my age also called Judith. It doesn't seem to be one of those names that's come back into fashion though, or at least not yet.

[susandennis]

Ha! I'm not sure I ever heard your name before. We only had one Judy in elementary school but/and she was by far the most popular for all 6 years of that school.

Judy seems to have had a lot more longevity than Susan... I've known Judys of all ages but, yep, probably been ten years or so since I've known of a new Judy :)

[letmesaythis.livejournal.com]

Judith definitely does not seem to be coming back in style. We need a famous Judy to kick start things again. It's even been a while since I've heard the annoying "Judy, Judy, Judy!".

~Judith

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

Had I been born a girl, I would have been named Suzanne.

My orange teddy bear I had when I was a kid, I named Susie. I have no idea why I chose that name! I was only 3 or so. :)