When I was at primary school in the 1970s there were four Janes in my class.
I hated sharing my name.
It made feel so unspecial.
My mum chose the name as she was reading the book Jane Eyre when she was pregnant with me.
Another reason I hated the name.
I always felt Jane Eyre was such a wet character.
Why didn't she read Wuthering Heights?
I would have preferred Cathy or Catherine.
There were none of those in my class.
Today on Facebook I saw a comment from someone who had the same first name and second name as me before I was married - Jane O'Connell - and there is a character called Jane Gallagher - my name for the past 31 years - in Catcher in the Rye.
I still hate sharing my name.
So when I was pregnant with my daughter in 1997 I was determined that she would have a name that was unique or at least not a name she would share with three others in her class.
And so I chose Briony.
There have been a few Briony's around but most have the spelling Bryony.
So when I saw the name of this dress on eBay, I had to have it.
The dress is called Briony and I wanted to snap up the only other Briony I have seen.
It arrived today and it is perfect, a soft brushed navy cotton with buttons all the way down.
I can dress it up or down and I think it will become a firm favourite.
If you would like to see what the original Briony looks like - here she is with me and she certainly is unique.
Today I wore:
Boots- M & S
Dress - Joules from eBay
Hello Jane, Cathy is such a great name! Briony is even better. What a beautiful picture of the two of you (were you not tempted to bounce into that amazing balloon wall???)I really dislike my common surname and always said I'd marry someone if they had the best exotic sounding one. Problem is, my fella's surname is even more common!... so we've never married for that very reason ;) Lulu x
ReplyDeleteYou do have a lovely way with words, Jane!
ReplyDeleteMy Mum was a nursery nurse and was adamant that her children wouldn't have names that reminded her of kids she'd looked after. I was the only Victoria at school but have met many more since. My brother is Marcus, still quite unusual!
Lovely photo of you and your Briony and her namesake dress is gorgeous! xxx
What an interesting story about your name! That dress was MADE for you. So glad you found it. X
ReplyDeleteLook at your beautiful daughter, taking after her beautiful mum. :) My name (Sheila) is pretty rare - I seldom meet other Sheilas. Both my maiden name (a Huegenot name) and my husband's name are so rare that anyone with either name is related to me!
ReplyDelete