‘Celebrate Your Name Week’ falls in March each year. I thought it might be fun to investigate my name ‘Dorothy’.
Celebrate Your Name Week
What is the history of Celebrate Your Name Week?
Celebrate Your Name Week was established in 1997 by a man with quite an ordinary name, Jerry Hill. An onomatologist, someone who is interested in the origin, history and use of names, Jerry decided it would be a good idea to have a prescribed week when everyone could embrace and celebrate their name.
When is Celebrate Your Name Week?
The first full week in March is designated Celebrate Your Name Week.
What does it entail?
There are seven main days within Celebrate Your Name Week. These include Name Tag Day, Namesake Day, Name Fun Facts Day, Unique Names Day, Learn What Your Name Means Day, Middle Name Pride Day,and Genealogy Day.
I am going to bundle all of these together and just look at my name in general.
Investigating My Name – Dorothy
Well, just to complicate matters I have two names. My birth name of Dorothy (with June as a middle name) and ShannathShima my spirit name.
ShannathShima
My spirit name was given to me by a very wise old man. Originally Shan, which means snow leopard, it has expanded a bit over the years, in line with my spiritual growth. The story of the name is told in my book The Journey which I talked about in a blog entitled ‘The Journey‘.
Dorothy
I am named after my maternal grandmother Dorothy. She always told me it means ‘gift of God’. Looking it up, she was quite right. It comes from the Greek ‘Dōrothéa’ which means ‘God’s Gift’.
It is a widely used name, with 122 forms that are used in English and foreign languages. According to Wikipedia, Dorothy was one of the ten most popular girl’s names in the USA between 1904 and 1940.
There was an early Christian Saint Dorothea, a 4th-century virgin martyr known as Saint Dorothea of Caesarea.
Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz
I can’t tell you how many jokes have been made at my expense about my name in relation to the Wizard of Oz character. I used to have a little dog Holly, I have mentioned her in my blog on many occasions. You would not believe how many times people asked me if her name was Toto. Or even worse people asked my husband if he was Toto!
Here is a little taste of ‘the real’ Dorothy and Toto.
There is one funny story about it though. My secretary sent a fax (old days, before the email revolution). I got a fax back saying ‘Dear Dorothy, the Wicked Witch of the West got hold of your fax and sent it to the wrong place. Give our love to Toto’. I wrote back ‘Thanks for letting me know, will punch munchkins’.
Other Famous Dorothys
The first ‘Dorothy’ I could think of was Dorothy Wordsworth, the sister of William Wordsworth. Research suggests some others that I have heard of like Dorothy Lamour (actress), Dorothy L Sayers (English writer) and Dorothy Dandridge (African American film and theatre actress). This Celebrate Your Name Week is quite fun! You should investigate yours.
I will leave you with another famous ‘Dorothy’, Dorothy Moore singing ‘Misty Blue’.
Before you go
My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.
You can follow me on Facebook.
Thank you for reading!
Neat – My mom was Dorothy and her best friend (and sis in law) named her oldest daughter Dorothy. My mom was sometimes called Dot (and my wife has an aunt Dorothy that we’ve always called her Aunt Dot). My cousin we called Dotty – the sweetest girl in the whole world when I was a kid. Pretty, nice, could sing like an angel.
I have always liked my name. Here in Italy they struggle with ‘th’ so they tend to call me Doroty but with a soft t, more like a d. I don’t mind it.
Enjoyed it. My name Usha means sunrise or dawn. She is the wife of Sun God Surya in the Hindu pantheology.
Thank you. Usha is a beautiful name.
I can’t believe I missed out on such a great blogging opportunity as celebrate your name week! Ha ha! I am sure you heard about as many Wizard of Oz comments as I was called Audrey Hepburn or Lil Audrey (you might be old enough to remember that cartoon, but it goes wayyyyyyyyy back).
I don’t know the cartoon but I know exactly what you mean!