Clothilde

Where did your name come from?

Linda was the second most common girl’s name in 1950, bested only by Mary. Every classroom was populated with Lindas and its rhyming cousins, Glenda and Brenda. I wasn’t ashamed to be Linda.

I when I got older and learned I’d been threatened with the horrific name, Clothilde, I was grateful to be just plain old Linda. I was one of four girls. Each time a daughter was born, Daddy offered up his favorite girl name, Clothilde. It seems that when he was a starving child growing up in the depths of The Great Depression, his family had share-cropped on the farm of Mr. Ward. Daddy forever remembered his daughter, the beauteous Clothilde, hence, his love of that name.

No matter what my mother ever did or will do to me, I will be forever grateful she didn’t let Daddy saddle me with the name Clothilde!

First Grade School Picture

46 thoughts on “Clothilde”

  4. OMGoodness Linda, I’m so glad you are Linda. That would have been terrible to be called a hygiene product and you’re right, kids are cruel and would have done it.

    I’m actually named after my dad, Don. His middle name is Raymond, but my mother didn’t like Dawn-Rae, hence, I became Dawna-Rae.

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  6. I was named partly after my mum’s grandmother who’s name was Mary-Anne, dad remembered mum saying she liked the name Jo-Anne so that’s my name, I was born premature and was very poorly so my Nan wanted me christened/ baptised so I was when I was only a few hours old.

    When I was in year six at school there were 5 girls in my glass named Joanne, I am particular about my name it is Jo-Anne not Joanne

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    • Everybody has a sister, cousin, Mama, or aunt name Linda. If everyone in the world named Linda’s elastic broke at once a quarter of the women in the world would have their pants around their ankles.

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  11. I went to a small parochial school. There were 7 girls in my grade. No Linda but there was a Kathleen (that would be me) and a Katherine. What are the odds of that. My mom wanted to name a girl Veronica until she worked for one who was a nasty person. Names go in waves. You can almost tell when a person was born (or their age) by their name. You may have ended up with a weird nickname if your name was Clothilde.

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