Personal History - More on Names, and Wonder Woman

Just when you thought there wasn't any more I could say about my name, the stories go on...

Was I named after someone else?

I mentioned yesterday that my first name comes from the Roman goddess Diana, which really stands all by itself in coolness...

But later on, as a child, I discovered the most wonderful TV show that gave me hope like nothing else...Wonder Woman!

I first saw her in black and white, of course, and later in color, but she captivated me. Not only because of her magic lasso and her bulletproof bracelets and really nifty skimpy bathing-suit outfit, but...

Because...her name when she hid her Diana Prince! Wow!

Obviously, in my young-girl mind, because her name and my name (almost) matched, if I too spun around enough, I would turn into Wonder Woman and go away to Paradise Island and not have to be stuck in a tiny tenement house in Salt Lake City surrounded by four stupid brothers in my family and too many scary home and neighborhood pets. I could shoot arrows and take down bad guys and be the goddess I knew I had to be.

So at night, in bed, I spun around. And around and around.

And nothing happened. Super-disappointing!

But thus began my lifelong love-affair with superheroes, and Wonder Woman still holds a tiny edge above them all for me, because of her alter-ego name.

But then, Another Diana...Who Was a Princess this Time...

Around the mid-80s, suddenly everyone talked about Princess Diana and the wedding.

I didn't pay much attention, but some pointed out that we held a slight resemblance - crooked nose, strong facial features. She had better hair (of course - she had hairstylists and I barely had a hairbrush), but I appreciated her a little bit at the time.

I didn't try to emulate her - was more into Madonna's style than hers - but I appreciated how kind she seemed, and how she tried to help people. Sad when she died.

Even today, I still hear comparisons between myself and her, because of my name, and I welcome them.

The Missing 'N' is Not Missed

My only real problem, then and now with my name, was how often it was misspelled. I have two 'n's in my name, but no one seems to remember that.


I clung to that second 'n', though.

In some cases, it became a test of how much a person truly cared.

The ones that did, remembered the 'n'. The ones that didn't, well...I didn't always bother to correct them unless it was important, but I noticed it.

Always.