¿Cómo se llama?

In Spanish, this is the familiar form of asking someone: What are you called? The formal form is ¿Cuál es su nombre? Meaning what is your given name. For someone having the formal name of William, they are most likely called Bill. I have been thinking about names for some time now because of my interest in genealogy. How people are known or called is not always by their given name.

As an example, I was searching for records regarding my great-grandmother, Mary Cordelia Henderson. That was the name on her birth and baptismal records. However, Ancestry.com left me a leaf hint and upon viewing said hint, the record was for a Delia Carlson. “Is this the same person?” the website asked.

I was unsure, so I went further down the rabbit hole. The birth date and birth place were the same. Her parents were the same as for Mary Cordelia.  Then, it struck me, she was called Delia and when she married, she became Delia Carlson. Tracing her now became a lot easier because I knew what she was called.

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare asked: What's in a name?

Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet meet and fall in love. They are doomed from the start as members of two warring families. Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention, and that she loves the person who is called "Montague."

My grandparents gave all of their children the middle initial C, which stood for Croshaw, Grandma’s maiden name. My mother named her first son, Ronald C Helmandollar, to continue the tradition, only the C stood for Carlson. She did not keep that tradition with the remainder of her children however.

Mother named her second daughter, Laura Sue Helmandollar, after her mother, Laura. My sister didn’t like her first name, so she went by Sue Helmandollar. After she was married, she became Sue Wright.

Names are a funny thing. You believe them to be permanent markers of people and places, but even “old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, I can’t say. I guess they just liked it better that way.”

My father, Herman Joseph Helmandollar, was called Herman. Some of the men he worked with called him Herm and some called him Hermandollar, which always made me laugh for some reason.

                                                                      Notice the name Kim embroidered on my sweater.

My husband, Gino’s given name is EuGene Albert Colaianni, after his two uncles who died during World War II. His family called him Genie or Gene. I called him Gino because it was more Italian and it stuck. When we were married, I had my given name changed to Kim Helmandollar Colaianni. Gino called me KC (casey) because those were now my initials. Most people who have known me for a long time still call me Kim because that is how they have always known me. That’s just fine by me. It is my legal given name.

Why I changed it,

I won’t say,

I guess I just like it better that way.

by KC Colaianni