Having a Weird Name

As I said before, I am from Scotland, and over here my name, Paige is actually really unusual. 

When I was growing up, I absolutely hated my name, mostly because the perpetually uncultured souls of my home town, and their playground taunts of “oooh, Paige in a book”, “do you turn the page, Paige?”. I thought it was stupid. I also hated how it was only one syllable, it sounds like a noise, like something someone might say if they trip over, or to scare a cat away. Especially when my sister got the beautiful, after a Bronte sister, cultured, “Charlotte” (two syllables). Oh, and there is nothing funny abut the name Charlotte, except for the year in primary school when you read Charlotte’s Web… but that got old quite quickly. 

I know of a lot of people who opted for their middle name instead of their first, but to be honest, I’ve never really liked my middle name either, it’s Louise. No offence to anyone whose name is Louise, or the many, many people I’ve found since the popularity of Facebook who share my middle name. But I’ve never felt it suited me at all.

I suppose I may have faired better if the name was more popular, but surprisingly enough I never met anyone who shared my first name until I was 17 when I was volunteering at the school my mum works in, and was introduced to another Paige. 

Sometimes I wonder if my life would have been different if I was called something different, or more common, and the answer is probably yes, I would be a very different person, and standing up to the teasing has made me stronger. 

When I read John Green’s Looking for Alaska, I thought how wonderful it would have been to have been able to pick my own name, but then again, when I was Alaska’s age, I was fully immersed in the fantasy worlds of Enid Blyton, and would most likely have called myself Harriet or Amelia… which I am not sure are lesser evils. 

However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to appreciate my mother’s forward thinking. People don’t tend to forget my name, so being remembered when I started University wasn’t much of a problem, and with my name becoming more widely known, people often tell me it’s pretty. I am also thankful that I don’t have to share my name with 3 others in my class, having gone to two Catholic schools in my time, bible names such as David, Andrew and Paul were extremely popular and there were 2 of each in my first year class. So, “which Paige?” is thankfully, never a problem for me.