Lucy

I love nicknames; love giving them to people and I love having them. During my England trip in 2007 I acquired two more nicknames: Satan, because well, I am evil, like the fru-its of the devil, or so people have told me. And Lucy, because when you are wandering through cathedrals it seems inappropriate for someone to call out "Hey, Satan, look at this!" So Lucy became short for Lucifer and certainly more subtle than Satan or Devil Girl or Evil Woman. And of course who would use my actual name? That's just boring. Lucy I became.

I've always loved the name Lucy, mostly because of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, one of my favorite books. Until now I never really considered it as a potential name for any offspring I might ever have. (Probably because I don't think of having offspring very often.) But someone asked me what I would name a girl and I decided if I would like her name to be Lucy. At what point, though, do I break it to her that she is name after Satan? While she's a child I will tell her she's named after Lucy Pevensie, a partial truth, but when the time is right, I will break it to her. Maybe when she is 25 or 43. Maybe on my deathbed.

Other nicknames throughout my life: Duck, Ducky, Duckles, Chip, KD, Queen of Venar, halfpint, Skaggs, Skagget, Bird girl, Pretty Eyes, Rache, Roche (pronounced roach), Rachel Anna Maria, Ruth Ann (only pronounced with a hick accent), Rathel Lou Hucklebarns, the Energizer Bunny, the High Lord of Hell, Petunia Weed, and Nibbs because I have small hands. I am sure there have been others.