The Name Game

Maria Dulce Mercedita Milagros Cervantes Thelmo-Fernandez.

Can you say that in one breath, complete with Spanish accent? What a mouthful, huh?

It all began eight years and eight months after my parents' marital bliss. Such a long honeymoon. Based on the calendar, I was born on the Feast of the Sweet Name of Mary, the day historians thought the Virgin Mother was given her name. And so my parents and dear ol' grandmama (my dad's mom, who always wished she had a daughter after having four boys) agreed to name me Maria Dulce. But sneaky grandmama took the chance of adding names to the list when my mother's lower half body was paralyzed after giving birth to me as side effect of her allergy to anesthesia. Mercedita, she thought, would be a wonderful addition, as it was a name she would given her own daughter, had she been blessed with one. Milagros, her namesake, she believed, would complete my name, since I was her spitting image.

Imagine the horror of trying to squeeze in all that in the boxes alloted for my name in the NCEE (now NCAE) exam papers. I had to simply add Mercedita and Milagros to my middle initials.

Dulce was the name classmates and teachers called me from preschool to high school in Poveda. They're the only ones who still call me by that name. When I got to UP Manila, I could not stand the mispronounciation others made of Dulce as "dolsee" and "dolse". It was murder, I tell you. So I opted to use my family nickname, Cherry, instead.

So where did Cherry come from? According to my mom, she originally wanted to give me the nickname, Candy, but her eldest sister, who came over to visit and help her out with infant care, thought people might mispronounce the name as "kan-dee, kende, or keendee". My aunt then started calling me Cherry and soon everyone followed suit. A good thing, at that. Cherry suits me better -- I can be sweet or sour.

As for Cervantes, that was my mom's maiden name. My grandfather originated from Surigao and settled in Cagayan de Oro, although the family name supposedly hails from Pangasinan.

Thelmo is my dad's family name. It's original spelling is actually without an "h". Dear old grandmama added the "h" years after her children were born to distinguish their blood line from the rest. Go figure.

I got married to a Fernandez. No, no relation to most Fernandezes. They are just too many of them out there. That's one reason I hyphenate. I don't refer to myself or like being referred to as Cherry Fernandez. That's just not me. There are three other Cherry Fernandezes in Cebu alone. It's that common a name. Moreover, I'm fond of my maiden name and marrying a month before I turned 30, more people know me as Cherry Thelmo. Hyphenating is also my way of acknowledging my marriage and giving respect to my hubby.

So if you're about to have a child and are starting to think of possible names already, be kind. Think ahead, like when your child will have to write his or her name in school; how others might make fun of his or her name. Remember, it is really all in the name.