I'm bored and have nothing to say, so here's a meme with a pancake on its head.

1. Are you named after anyone? If so, explain.

Nope. It's a tradition in Belgium (or sued to be--it's tankfully dying out now) to name kids after grandparents and godparents, which is how my parents ended up with, respectively, five and seven middle names (and they're not an exception), but my parents very sensibly gave me and my brothers one first name and one middle name.

I'm Sofie Katrien, for the record, neither of which is especially distinctive, especially not for a girl my age. Actually, it doesn't seem to be over here, but in any group of about a dozen Belgian women my age, you'll find at least one Sofie or Sophie, and Katrien isn't that much rarer.

And this is only one of a dozen reasons why I go by Melle these days, heh.

2. Do you have your children's names picked out already? If so, is there any significance?

I'm not planning to have kids, and I don't really think about children's namesas a result, but if I ever did have kids, chances are I'd stick to my parents' "tradition" of picking simple, easy names with no spelling or pronunciation issues that don't need to be abbreviated to be useable. Although I admit I quite like Gaetan for a boy.

3. If you were born a member of the opposite sex what would your name have been?

Jelle, I believe, though my dad tried valiantly, all three times, to lobby for Kit, regardless of gender. I'm kinda glad my mum won that particular fight, to be honest. As a nickname, fine, but as an official name? Not so much.

Note that Jelle, is pretty much the equivalent of Sofie in terms of popularity in my generation.

4. If you could re-name yourself what name would you pick and why?

You know, oddly enough, I don't think I'd ever change my name officially, despite the fact that pretty much the only people who actually still know me by my real name anymore are my family and the people I work with, and even some of those know me by Melle (notably, CO and a bloke whose name escapes me who works in my department and was also at the picnic this Sunday).

(This randomly reminds me that I should go and friend a bunch of RL people ASAP. But I digress.)

Anyway, a I was saying, despite all that, I'm rather attached to my real name. If nothing else, I'd lose my reason for semi-collecting owl stuff, and also, I'd rather not have to explain to official-type people that no, it's spelled M-E-L-L-E, not M-E-L, and no, it's not short for Melanie or whatnot.

5. Are there any mispronunciations/typos that people do with your name constantly?

This would be the other part of why I go by Melle. Not only does no one seem to be capable of spelling my name correctly (S-O-F-I-E, not S-O-P-H-I-E, people), but I rather dislike the English pronunciation of my name. I'm better about it than I used to be, but I still prefer to just go by Melle and save myself the aggravation.

6. Any nicknames you are fond of?

Well, Melle, obviously, which is the only actual nickname I've ever had. Oh, and "kleine puit" ("little frog"), which my gran still calls me. (... And it only now occured to me to wonder where thehell that came from. Um. Presumably, I was a fugly baby?)