Name Game Thursday Three

Terry over at ye olde Possumblog entertains us with the following missive:

Thursday, Thursday, Bo-Bursday

Banana-fana Fo-Fursday
Me-My-Mo-MursdayTHURSDAY!

Three three Bo-Bee--Oh, forget it.

Inspired by my razor-like insight the other day about the occasional folly of researching the meaning of one’s surname, frequent inquisitor Jim Smith wants to use the following for The Axis of Weevil Thursday Three “Name Game” Edition. Anyone who has a name may play along, and no, this has nothing to do with naming baby animals like the question from last week.
SO--

1. What does your name mean—any connection to what you do or who you are?
2. Any problems with your name? Do you wish it (either your surname or given name) was changed ?
3. Were you named for someone? If so, whom?
AND, in order to satisfy Jim’s insatiable need to supply MORE than three questions--
4. Do you go by your first name, middle name, shortened form--(ex. Jim for James)--or by some made-up nickname?

All of you think hard and leave your answers in the comments below, or leave a link to your blog. And if your name is Chuck or Mitch, please don’t do the Name Game song.

1) My name, Sarah, is an old name. It is found in the Torah and comes from the word sar meaning noble and ruler. The most common meaning associated with it is princess. I, as oppposed to my daughter, don’t view myself as being a princess. I am, however, very independent and stubborn.

It is ironic that my given name is Hebrew. I was not born Jewish, but I later converted before marrying my husband. He did not ask me to convert; it was just a natural evolution in my beliefs. My family is loosely Unitarian. A rather funky religion that was important to the forefathers of the United States.

I guess I could be viewed as a co-ruler with my husband of our rather boisterous household. Oh and long ago in my professional life I referred to myself as “The Queen of Tissue Culture.”

My currant last name is my husbands and a former co-worker of mine from Germany claimed it was an archaic term from Germany for the person who would manage the distant lands of the feudal Lord. This could be a bunch of crock for all we know.

My original surname was Straight. It’s English and that’s about it. It is an obscure name that is slowly dying out. Odds are if I meet someone named Straight, I’m related to them.

2) I get irritated when my name is misspelled. It is the traditional spelling of Sarah i.e. with the h. It still gets mangled in the most imaginative ways. I remember telling someone my name was Sarah with an h. They gave me a confused look and wrote Shara. Jeepers!

Straight would get mangled as well. People would want to spell it Strait and occasionally Street. Even if I said “It’s straight, as in a straight line” they would still get it wrong. Occasionally someone would deny that it was my real name. I did like the fact that straight is the longest monosyllabic word in the English language.

My current last name is somewhat easier for other people to deal with. It is spelt relatively phonetically and is not too long.

3) I was named for several long deceased relatives. For a brief moment my parents toyed with the name Pearl. My birthday is Pearl Harbor Day and the idea amused them. If it wasn’t for WWII and the GI bill my parents would have never met. Instead they saddled me with the middle initial B. Think about it.

4) I just go by Sarah. The closest I ever got to a nickname was in college. I was Sarah B. to distinguish me from all the other Sarahs. My husband has various endearments for me one of them is Duck. I am also known as the dachshund lady, and Jake/Nate/Rebecca/Max’s mom.