Whenever anyone hears my given name for the first time, I always get the same reaction: "Huh. I've never heard that before." It's almost like a nice way of saying "Wow, that's weird." My standard response has always been, "Yea, it's an old lady name." Which of course is met with nervous laughter and a "No, it's really...pretty." Of course, sensing discomfort and wanting to draw it out as long as possible, I turn it into a conversation and continue with "No, really. It was my grandmother's name. It's ok. She was old."
Now clearly this makes no sense. She wasn't old when I was given her name. She was in her 40s; probably around the age I am now. Basically the opposite of old.
When I was younger, I hated my name. No personalized key chains or pencils or souvenirs of any sort for me. Eventually it got to where Lori was a popular enough name where you could find it branded on certain items - which I take full credit for - but Lorene has never really taken off.
Then a few years ago, after my grandmother died, I realized I loved having her name. And she had her mom's name. Which means I have her mom's name. No one else in my family has my great-grandmother's name. And in a family that has about 5 names on heavy rotation and not much else, I think that's pretty pretty freaking great.
