What your name again???

When meeting someone for the first time (or the 8th) the conversation usually goes like this:
What's your name?
MarKey
It's what?
MarKey
Margene?
No, MarKey
Marcie?
No, MarKey
Oh, with a Q?
No, a capital K-e-y
Oh, how did you get that name?
Well, I will answer the question to all who have asked and for all who haven't dared:

Meet my Dad, Marcus ( he's not really in a wheel chair)


And my Mom, Becky


They got creative and took the MAR from my Dad's name, and the KEY from my Mom's. They capitalized the K so that there would be an emphasis on the Key, in attempts to not make it sound like a boy name. (when reading my name people still expect me to be a boy, but thats ok)It is kind of a fun game to play with you and your husbands names to see what they come up with. Here are the results of mine and Jon's(Jonathan) name game:
Marathon
Jonkey
Maron
You can see why we didn't take this route in naming our child.

When hearing my name for the first time I get a variety of reactions.
"Like the diamond"

"Like the sign"


or the classic, "Is that your last name or your first?"

My parents were also creative in naming their other 4 children. Meet the family:
(from left to right)
Dallas (a family name), Shilo (from the Neal Diamond Song, in the song Shilo is an imaginary boy, but what ever???), Dad, Me, Jon, Mom, Skipper(a family name) and Sunny(had severe jaundice as a baby, you can figure it out)

I'm sorry the picture is not the best. You are missing out on what a handsome bunch we are.

As much as I appreciate a name out of the ordinary, it does get a little old having a 10 minute "what's your name" conversation every time I introduce myself. I always swore I would give my child a name that was different, but not unheard of. I wanted it to be read and automatically know what it said, To avoid and awkwardness of it being sounded out, which would always result in slottering it. Yes, I am speaking from experience.

When naming Bennett I thought that I had found the perfect name, one that would allow his name to be said with no questions asked, but also be appreciated for it's uniqueness. But my glory was short lived. It came to a screeching halt the other day when I took Bennett to the doctor. I went up to the front desk to check us in, the receptionist asked for the patients name. I replied "Bennett", and she said, and "No, what is his first name?"