My first name is actually Jennifer. I do not go by it generally. At Doctor’s offices, or a substitute teacher may call me that, but I have always been a Jenny for as long as I can remember. I was actually named after a Virginia, who went by Ginny. So, it was confusing as a kid when my Mom would be talking on the phone to her sister, and I would hear Ginny and to me it sounded a lot like Jenny, and I would be like huh? And then she would be like, I am on the phone!
But, technically, it is Jennifer which I had always read was Teutonic, Germanic, meaning white wave, whatever that means. And then later when I was in my twenties or thirties, someone told me it is actually the Germanic translation of the name Guinevere, which is the French translation of the Welsh name Wanaver. I was into Arthurian legend, of course, so, yeah King Arthur’s wife obviously the most well known Guinevere there is was the ultimate Jennifer.
That did make me like my name more. Part of the reason I hated it, is I only started getting called it when I started school, and the other part was that in the seventies everybody collectively decided to name their daughter Jennifer so there were several in every class I attended in school so I had to go by Jenny N, because there all ready was a Jennifer S, and a Jenni R, and a couple Jenn’s.
It was the name, and I always wanted to be unique and different, so it was sort of a downer that I had the most common name ever. Of course, now it isn’t. My son doesn’t have a single one in his class. But at the time, it was all over the place. I tried to go by my middle name in high school but it never stuck. Although, my family does call me by it sometimes.
Jennisfora is actually one of my oldest characters I ever made up, and I realize now a pretty obvious fantasy stand in for me anyway, so my first email was jennisfora@hotmail.com, still use it. So, I have been Jennisfora for a very long time as well, although it is not my legal name.
I have always had a hate love thing for the name Jennifer, but I have made my peace with it. I used to get angry at people calling me it, my name badge at work even says Jenny, but people will still do it anyway, and now I get it. It is a decent name and it is mine. Even if it isn’t my preferred choice.
The Infamous Jennisfora Strikes Again...or something like that 