Identity crisis

Since the dawn of time (or since the dawn of my memory, which is pretty much the same thing in a self-righteous fashion), I’ve argued “Jenn” is a dumb (and I might have said “incorrect” at various times) way to spell the first-syllable nickname for “Jennifer.”

I had an epiphany today.

“Jess” is the accepted (and only, to my knowledge) form of the first-syllable nickname for “Jessica.” Not Jes.

So why does “Jen” exist?

I’ve argued so many times (this is so dumb) that my name is not Jen-N (don’t ask me to type this out phonetically. I tried and failed. Ask me in person next time.). However, after knowing too many Jesses for me to keep track of, I never once questions why I didn’t think to call them “Jes-S” in keeping with my ridiculous two-N argument.

So now my shorthand name makes no spelled-out sense to me, and if you know me and my crazy tendencies with proper spelling, you know this DRIVES ME CRAZY.

I had a hard enough time taking on a new last name when I got married. I just don’t see how I can adopt this properly spelled name as my own and not feel like a poser. A properly spelled poser, but a poser nonetheless.

Sweet irony for the girl obsessed with correct spellings. Karma is kicking my red-sharpie-wielding ass today.

Of course, there is no real right or wrong way to spell names, is there? I could spell my name “Dgehnn” and call it correct and no one could say otherwise. I could. But that’s dumb, too.

So why does this epiphany bother me? Who knows. It could be I’m on the hunt to collect every possible annoyance I can lately. It could be karma. It could be me being too idle for my own good.

At any rate, it’s a good thing I don’t usually write out “Jen” and most often stick with “Jenny,” a name which has its own (pointless) spelling arguments for another day.

A person with this many thoughts should have been named Mary. Then maybe I would think about things that are of actual importance.