of names and naming

dipti met a nurse named zoila the other day and she thought it was the most beautiful name she had ever heard. she came home and told me she wanted to name her daughter zoila.

i closed my eyes and scrunched my face in attempt to squeeze out a memory. i know i have heard that name, i thought.

i think that was my grandmother's name, i told her.

and the reason i only thought, and didn't know was because my grandmother went by nina. so i decided to call my dad to get the whole story.

turns out her name was :
zoila marina norona de los reyes de rodriguez

not only that but her nickname was ninina...changed to nina when she moved to the united states. although dad says all of her friends still called her ninina. he has no idea where the nickname came from.

we're spaniards through and through. my dad has his entire family tree in a closet somewhere and we are as spanish as they come. via cuba of course. which is interesting because cuba is such a mix of different ancestries and cultures. but we are spanish...which would explain why my ass is so white.

anyway, spaniards have a way of naming. just like bangali folks and chinese folks and west africans have a specific way of naming. i de-coded the spaniard way with my dad last night over the phone:

if you're a woman:
first name, middle name(which is really just considered another first name), mother's maiden name, father's surname, and then married name
i.e.
zoila marina norona de los reyes de rodriguez

if you're a man
first name (sometimes up to 4 of them like my dad) father's surname mother's maiden name

so my dad's full name is:
jose antonio hanibal inocente (cause he was born on el dia de los inocentes) rodriguez de los reyes

i think it's a little drawn-out, but cool nonetheless. what i really like is that you don't drop the woman's maiden name. the whole naming system is still sexist, but at least something is preserved. in american culture the woman's name is just totally lost which i think it whack to the nth degree. that's why so many women are refusing to change their names, cause it doesn't make sense anymore. and it's insulting to think our whole line is o.k. just vanishing.

i wanted to figure out what my name was "spanish-style". turns out, it's a little bit redundant. my middle name is already my mother's maiden name (since that's how the german americans do it, apparently). so if i added my mother's madien name to my name it would be:

amy tanner tanner rodriguez de whoever i marry

obviously, that doesn't roll off the tongue. i was thinking since, technically, i don't have a middle name (only a redundant mom's maiden name) i could give myself one. i was thinking i could take my grandmother's name as my middle/second proper name:

amy zoila tanner rodriguez de whoever i marry

it still doesn't roll off the tongue as it's a random mixture of german and spanish, but it's semi-traditional. what's holding me back is that i just read the namesake and think legal renaming is just wierd so i probably won't. plus, my parents have a nice balance of the spanish style with my brother's name, and german american style with mine so it would be insulting for me to say my spanish tradition was more important and diss on the german.

it was all just a nice little exploration through my mutt culture.

in the end, maybe dipti really will name her daughter zoila (if the stars align right) and my grandmothers name will live on. haha. i'm still putting my money of jigme.

i love how different cultures have these really specific and unique ways of ordering and assigning names. even more fascinating to me is which of those traditions you choose to carry on and explain to those you are naming.

CPOG (Chicago Pizza Oven and Grinder)

last night i ate at a restaurant that made me wonder whether i was being rewarded for something i did in a former life because it was so good. it was also so good that i thought maybe it was a sin to eat something so wonderful and rich and tasty. anyway, if you live in chicago or are visiting sometime soon, you have got to check this place out. holy crap, it is absolutely divine.

they make these pizza pot pies in these little bowls and then when they serve them to you they flip them over onto your plate piping hot. the sauce is to die for. there are only two choices: meat or no meat...and then you can get it with or without mushrooms. the place is strange. the inside is decorated like a swiss chalet...dark brown wood with cozy little boths and low lighting. and it's a cash only joint. when you put your name on the list to be seated (also no reservations)...they don't actually take your name. there is a short, little man who looks at you carefully and says "i'll come and find you when your table is ready." no names given. very strange. i was joking that it was probably some mobster thing...you know "i never forget a face." type of deal. it was funny though cause dipti went to put her name down, or put her face down, so to speak, and everytime the little man went looking for the next party to be seated she would jump up and tilt her head and give him a big smile. he would laugh and say "not yet." hillarious.

the pizza pies are amazing here, but what we liked best were the italian flat bread and the salads. absolutely amazing stuff. we were all almost full before they brought out the main course. i wanted to cry it was so good.

check out their website:

http://www.chicagopizzaandovengrinder.com/default.htm

be sure to read the history of the place...it's very interesting.