A Rose By Any Other Name...

I have an uncommon name.  Sally is not a name you often hear.  When I was a girl in school, right from elementary school through high school and beyond, I was always the only Sally.  Even now at work, if you type Sally in the email address, mine is the only name that populates... In a company with 5,000+ employees in Canada and the US.  Those are some pretty good research samples, I think.

According to the website "Our Baby Namer," the name Sally peaked in popularity between 1947 and 1952.  What twisted form of persecution did my parents intend to impart upon me for my entire life attaching a name that would forever brand me with an association to the peak baby boom years?  How old did they want to make me seem? 

Whenever anyone says I look like a Sally, I wonder what could they possibly mean?  I was told I looked like a Sally on the weekend so I came right out and asked, "What does a Sally look like?"  This is what I was told... "You look like the girl next door... freckles... friendly"  Not too bad, I suppose.

Probably better than looking like a Jezebel, Pandora, Bertha, Eloise... And my most sincere apologies to any readers with those names. Truly, so very sorry!

And so equally curious is when someone saddles you repeatedly with a name that is not yours... Again, this has happened to me in the past couple of days.  A person in my building who I have just met repeatedly calls me Patty.  I correct him every time and every time he says, "I guess you just look like a Patty."  So what does THAT mean?  Apparently, the same thing... "Friendly."

So forget Mustang Sally, Long Tall Sally, Lay Down Sally or Sneakin' Sally Down the Alley.... They are all misguided interpretations of what the name means apparently. 

So let's make this easy.  You can call me Al.