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When I started writing online five and a half years ago, to me, the internet was a place where unibombers hung out. I certainly wasn’t going to put my name out there for all to see. Especially a name like mine, that’s so different that all the unibombers would certainly search for my address and then unibomb us. Whatever that means. Plus most of the population looks at my name and then pronounces it wrong. It’s like how we were all pronouncing Hermione wrong the first time we read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.  It seemed like a pain to claim my name.

I figured I’d just call myself The Nester since my blog was called Nesting Place and it wasn’t like anyone would ever read it anyway. Who cares what dorky name I called myself?  Sometimes the internet surprises you. People read, my name was dorky and I realized that by using an obvious pretend name, I actually brought more attention to the fact that I wasn’t using my real name. Curious people started researching and finding me. It became a “thing” when I went to conferences. The very attention I wanted to avoid was happening and it was my own fault. I should have just said my name was Amy. No one would have ever questioned that.

This will hurt my mom’s feelings but I’m not crazy about my name. It’s weird. I’m an introvert. Being a kid and having a weird name that when people read it they don’t know how to pronounce it is an introvert’s nightmare. Not only do I want to avoid all unnecessary talking in elementary school (and still even now), but the substitute teacher just called me “Mr. Morland” because they didn’t want to mispronounce my first name and now everyone is laughing because I’m a girl. I was the kind of introvert who more than anything, didn’t want to be the center of any kind of attention. I still don’t. I hate writing this post by the way. Can we talk about paint now?

As an adult I find myself overcompensation for my name. Once I went to the mall with a neighbor who by the time we came home, I was positive had no idea what my name was. I’m sure to her I was just “that girl with the weird name”. So now, even last week, I saw an acquaintance and even though we had been introduced before and I knew her name I was all telling her my name and she said, “I know who you are.” so I awkwardly explained how I always reintroduce myself to people with my name so they won’t feel weird asking. The curses of an odd name.

So if we haven’t met in person, or if you haven’t already seen it somewhere online or in a magazine, my name is Myquillyn. It’s pronounced like Jacqueline but with a Mike. If I had a dollar…  And really, I’ve been meaning to write this post for years. You can hear my fellow odd-named-friend-Tsh pronounce my name here on her podcast. There’s no story about a Himalayan princess that is my great-grandmother behind my name, my mom made it up and liked it way before she ever met my dad. Then together they got super creative and named my baby sister Emily.

I’m happy to finally, really meet you. And know that I never was trying to hide anything from you, just from the unibomber.

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stuff about me

I’ll be here all week sharing stuff you might not know about me. Thrilling! If you go by a pseudonym online and want to introduce yourself in the comments feel free, and feel free not to as well. If your name is Myquillyn, let’s have matching bike license plates made together!