My grandpa’s sister was nicknamed Babe, which is what he called her, so I grew up with an aunt Babe. The best part is that her married name was Darling, so she was Babe Darling! Oddly enough, she outside of the family she went by her middle name, Annabelle, not her first name, Edna (her mother’s name). Her sister went by Francis, but her given name was Lulu.

Thanks, everyone. I didn't know mom's cousin well. I feel bad for mom, though. She's pretty much the last of her generation. Even in-law wise, she only has one s-i-l left. My other remaining aunt passed this fall.

Aww, the name plurality discussion takes me back to TT and one of the first threads and Dana declaring, "There are too many Davids in this thread. I therefore declare each David shall be known by a different name." This is when Manservant Hecubus, Knut Hoarfrost, and...um, memfaulting on the others...came into being. Good times, good times.

Via the Wayback Machine, from the FAQ [link] :

Q. Who are Manservant Hecubus and Knut the Difficult?
A. Dana started it. We have quite a few David-type people and Dana noted this on the thread, and proceeded to rename the offending Davids. David Schwartz became Knut the Difficult, David S. became Manservant Hecubus. Hilarity ensued.

Here's how it went down:

Dana D. - B.3.650: David Rothschild (we have entirely too many Davids around here, between Smay, Schwartz, and Rothschild. I demand that two of you rename yourselves to Lucien and Joshua), I *loved* that movie. Bloody brilliant stuff. [The movie in question was Being John Malkovich.]

David S. - B.3.651: I apologize sincerely for my Davidness and hereby rename myself Dana.

David J. Schwartz - B.3.661: Lucien? Joshua? No. I prefer to be called by my viking sobriquet, Knut Hoarfrost.

Susan O - B.3.672: So who is Joshua and who is Lucien? And can we all join in a chorus of "These are the Daves I Know" from the Kids in the Hall?

Dana D. - B.3.673: Well, David Schwartz insisted on being difficult, so now he's Knut.

Valarie Cook - B.3.689: (De-lurking) so David Swartz is now going to be known as Knut the Difficult?

Dana D. - B.3.690: I like it. So it is written, so shall it be.

David S. - B.3.692: Well, I'm damn sure not going to be Lucien. If David Schwartz gets to be Knut the Difficult, then I want to be Manservant Hecubus.

Bev, when I was born my mother was given a list of acceptable Russian girls’ names. She picked mine because (a) she liked the sound of it but also (b) it was Hebrew and that was a good joke on my anti-Semitic grandfather. It’s a better joke, of course, that I eventually converted to Judaism but he did not live to see that.

I know I’m not responding to everyone but these are all so fascinating!

I somehow missed Cindys post in this- I am glad your son is feeling better. I am sorry about your cousin. I hope your son continues to feel OK

And Matt, every DAve Matthews Band song does sound like every other Dave Matthews Band song. And now I have some weird semi wordless amalgam in my head.

My dad’s Aunt Betty, his mom’s older sister, was the last in a chain of Elizabeth - Catherine - Elizabeth - Catherine - Elizabeth. I have a picture somewhere of all five generations, taken sometime around the turn of the (last) century when Betty was a baby. It’s pretty amazing.

Neither Betty nor my grandmother Frances had girls though so that was that.

Does everyone know "This Is a Trent Reznor Song"? More importantly, has everyone seen the Star Trek vid set to that song? [link]

Thank you for that, Dana!

OK. Other than stocking stuffers, I have finished my Christmas shopping. WHAT. Tomorrow I need to wrap the set I'm sending to my niece + boyfriend and sister + wife (they are going to niece's in GA now) and send them off, and then that's that. Everything else I sent went directly to the recipients. And I didn't go overboard, which sometimes can happen with my last minute gifting.

As soon as I get my holiday stamps, I can send my holiday cards... or, if they don't come in the next couple of days it will a very Batman and old time baseball players holiday card extravaganza. Which is just fine.

This makes me happy. I don't think I've been this relaxed about the holiday season like this in... ever. Huh.

All I could get was flag stamps :-(. But I figured better to go with that and get them out than hold off for better.

I really need to get cards started tonight. I got the 3 packages mailed yesterday.