I was supposed to be a Jillian. Jillian. Somehow I ended up as a Jennifer.
No, not somehow. My poor mom woke up from the anesthesia (this was the early 70s after all, they knocked everyone out!) and found that instead of a Jillian she had a Jennifer. Apparently my dad named me while mom was still under. He liked the name. How she didn’t beat him with a bedpan and that they’re still married after 42 years is a mystery.
The thing is…they didn’t know many, if any, Jennifers. And somehow they ended up naming me the most popular name of the 1970s. And so I was always Jenni T. I was one of fourteen Jennifers in my graduating class…a class of over 400 students, many of whom were from other countries and had names far from being Jennifer-ish.
Funny how now I know few Jennifers. My moms’ group had five at one point, but I rarely see any of those women now.
So now I go by Jen. Tom is the only one who really calls me Jennifer. And my parents/brother/old high school friends are the only ones who call me Jenny.
Kim at Hormone Colored Days wrote a fun post last week: Dear Jen, I love your blog! Do you know how cool it was to read that title? All about the blogs she reads with Jen authors. Fun stuff. Jennifers are taking over the blogosphere…be warned. We’ve hit middle age, we’re technologically savvy, and we’re heavily caffeinated. Watch out, here we come.
There were 5 Lisas in my grade school class of about 50 kids. There were even more in my high school class! VERY popular name the year I was born, apparently! And, we are ALL Lisa Marie, just like Elvis’ daughter, who was born that year, as well!
LOL!! So true–Jennifer was THE POPULAR name for girls born in the 70’s. I knew so many Jennifers growing up. 🙂
Thanks for the shout-out. I’m glad you liked the post. If you were named Jillian, you wouldn’t have made the cut, so you can finally thank your dad 😉
I wouldn’t know what it is like to grow up in the 70’s with the most popular name!!! ha ha Although, like you, I don’t really have friends with the name Michelle. Strange. I do have a friend another friend named Jen though and it seems we always use her last name with her first…almost like they are all one name smashed together because yes, everyone will say “which one” if you only say “jen”.
oh don’t I know it! I changed the spelling to ie instead of y at 11 just to stand out a tiny bit.
Jillian I like it, you know I don’t think I would’ve let the hubby switch names when I was knocked out on the table! and for the record, I love the Jennifers in my life!