What's in a name?

My creative writing group proposed the theme of Teddy this morning, which inevitably led to me thinking about the 31 years I went by the name of Bear. I loved being a Bear, it's a cute name - when my kids were born their hospital bracelets said "Baby Bear" - but I've been equally happy with my other surnames, apart from one rather tedious drawback: how they are spelt.


I've never had an easy name
(Like Smith or Jones or Baker)
I've always had to spell it out, explain
To strangers filling in my details:

Nineteen years a Denney
(D - E - double N - E - Y)
Thirty one years a Bear
(Like the Teddy)
The last thirteen an Auger
(A - U - G- E - R, not orger, ogre, or walker).

But it's curious this switching of names
Always on loan from the man closest to me in law - 
Father or husband.  It's never been my own.  
Don't get me wrong, each time I was happy to change it,
But it would be nice to know my identity
With the certainty of a man
Who keeps his name from cradle to grave. 


Copyright Chris Auger 2020.  All Rights Reserved .













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