It wasn’t long after that that these kids, barely out of teenage-hood, had a baby; that’d be my older sister, Karen. One month later, I was conceived.
I don’t think my parents ever grew up, right up to the time of their divorce 25 years later. They certainly hadn’t matured much when I arrived. I know this to be true because of the way they named me.
Parents-to-be have nine months to pick one boy name and one girl name. But did my parents have this necessary and essential task accomplished? Noooo! A good time to them, was when my Mother first held me in her arms. However, she was not inspired and couldn’t think of one. This was unfortunate because the regulations at that time, stated a name had to be determined and registered with the government before leaving the hospital. So my mother looked up into the air and picked the first name that came to mind. Joanne. So it was Joanne Fripp.
By the time they got home, my parents decided, in their as yet undeveloped wisdom, that I wasn’t a Joanne at all. I looked much more like a Christine. The other name that came to her was a name she lived with all her life, that of her mother. Dorothy. So I became Christine Dorothy Fripp.
I don’t think it even occurred to them that this wasn’t a legal name and that they should maybe let the government know about the change. It wasn’t until I was 21 and applied for my birth certificate that I learned my name wasn’t Christine Dorothy Fripp at all; it was Joanne Fripp. So from that time on I carried my legal name and became Christine Joanne Dorothy Fripp until I was married. Then I became Christine Joanne Dorothy Fripp Murray.
My name changed many times after that. I eventually dropped ‘Joanne’ legally and became Christine Dorothy Fripp Murray. I dropped my married name, ‘Murray’ when I didn’t need it any more and then thought I’d drop ‘Fripp’ as well, and my legal name became ‘Christine Dorothy’.
Since all these name changes happened in the same time frame, the government did an investigation on me, thinking I was somehow on the lam for some illicit reason like drugs or some such. It all got straightened out and my name was secured, Christine Dorothy.
My Mother couldn’t understand why I settled for ‘Christine Dorothy’. She thought if I were going to change my name, I should change it to something more exciting, like ‘Paris’ or some such. I explained patiently that I didn’t actually change my name to something else, I actually just used the names I already had, and readjusted them a bit. She said ‘Christine Dorothy’ sounded like a nun. I blurted in frustration at her that she named me and that’s what I was stuck with so that was it and we wouldn’t talk about it anymore.
