Yes, my real name is…
…lovely.
no, honestly. no joke. it truly is.
lovely lenn liquigan.
there’s this “tradition” (i use that word loosely, hence the quotations - since i cannot figure out another word at the momes) in the philippines that you give your girls pet/nicknames such as: beauty, pretty … - adjectives that denote “beautiful” pretty much; or even “sweet.” please, any filipinos out there correct me if i error in any way.
my parents went the route of giving me “lovely” not as a petname but as my actual name. i found out that 2 other choices were: “gwendolenn” (because my dad’s name starts with a, “g”) and “south carolina” (because that was where i was born). “south carolina,” you say? yes. at first, i thought it was only “carolina” but upon further discussion with my ma she told me, with the “south.” i thought she was joking. nope. could you imagine?
“hi, i’m south carolina!”
yikes! i’d have to go by “s. carolina” for the rest of my life had that been the case! and, no. my parents were not hippies nor were they high on anything. go figure.
my middle name, “lenn,” comes from my dad’s name, “glenn.”
NOW. my petname is from my mom (given to me when i was still a baboo): “lovelle.” she told me that she was watching a chargers game and some player, or coach, or … someone had the last name, “lavell,” or “lavelle,” or “lovell” … something like that, and she liked it and just changed the spelling to her liking.
so, there you have it.
i remember growing up that i never liked the name, “lovely.” i thought it was weird. but, isn’t “lovelle” just as weird? mm. i wasn’t a strange child but i often think about that quirk with my name; thinking that “lovelle” was better than “lovely.”
i also remember the assistant basketball coach while i was on varsity told me that it’s strange that i would have that name because it’s usually black men that have the name, “lovelle.”
funny thing, though, i use “lovelle” as my name and “lovely” as my nickname…
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