Work Names for Working Girls
Books, Private Life and Play — By Adele on 23 November, 2006 8:50 pmI might be one of the last people to have never read “Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl” by Tracy Quan
The following dilemma made me whoop with recognition:
“Jasmine regards the multiple naming of the working self with impatience: “Who can keep up with all your names?” Jasmine doesn’t use a work name, she just calls herself Jasmine at all times. “Suppose some guy runs into you at a gallery opening, calls you Boopsie or Cupcake or whatever, and screws everything up for you? Hide it in plain sight,” she insists. “Besides, they think it’s tacky when a girl has too many names.” …
As a child I used to harangue my mother: “Why was I called Nancy?” Why can’t I be a Suzy or a Barbara? Why wasn’t I named Felicity?” Not having the faintest idea what she was foretelling, Mother replied, in that prim tone (which remains her parental hallmark), “When you grow up, you will have the freedom to choose any name you wish. Until then you will be called Nancy.”
And about her boyfriend:
“So what would Matt think if he knew how I’ve realised my earliest ambitions? He’d be… appalled. I’m sure he has no idea how much fun it is to rename yourself at will.”
A girl can’t have too many names; it’s impossible. A pleasure of a shiny new name can’t be compared to anything: signing it for the first time, learning to turn when people call you, seeing it in print when they are talking about you. It’s fantastic. Friends do occasionally complain that they can’t keep my names straight, but that’s simply because they are not yet very enlightened.
Now, of course, it’s impractical for a model to change names too many times (we’ve discussed it here and here), but that’s what role-play is for. In my private existence, I like to change my name whenever a mood strikes me.
Not to Boopsie or Cupcake, though.
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13 Comments
Shame…. Cupcake would rather suit you ;p
:-P~~, I say. :-P~~~~~~~~!!!
I have several friends in the scene who go by multiple names, and I’m constantly chuckling about the way I think of them by different names in different settings. For example, I can be talking about one “name” one minute and then be talking about another “name” the next, and have them both be the same person. And it doesn’t even seem strange to me…that’s why I’m constantly chuckling.
For myself, I don’t think I could ever go by another name…I’m just not focused enough to do that. ;)
Does a boy named Sue qualify…(sorry Cash)
Chris: You’ll be one of the enlightened ones, then ;)
Roy: That sort of non-consensual naming is not far short of child-abuse! Though at least he did learn to stand up for himself ;)
Names are like shoes: a girl can never have too many. ;-)
This is a little off-topic, but you may enjoy “There’s a Bear in There (and He Wants Swedish)” by Merridy Eastman:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Theres-Bear-There-Wants-Swedish/dp/1861977158
Eastman was a presenter on Play School, the popular Australian pre-schoolers TV show; however, she ended up working in a brothel. The book is both funny and poignant.
Names are like tattoos. Getting your first takes months of agonising and thought and decision-making. Getting your second is spontaneous and reckless. After that, you’re addicted: you want a new one every six months!
I like to keep changing the spelling of my real name every now and then and watch people misspell it. And people can be creative that way, too. After all, I am not attached to any English spelling in particular, since my original name is in a different alphabet altogether.
Niki – here’s a challenge: get a new name whenever you buy a pair of shoes. ;)
Robert – A pre-school TV presenter becoming a hooker, what’s the world coming to? ROTFL
Pandora – I’m glad you understand. :) That’s a cool analogy, which I couldn’t have come up with on my own, not having any tattoos!
Amber – *giggle* that must be fun. You’d be surpised how many creative ways of misspelling “Adele” people have found, actually…
But secretly, you are Lolita.
You must admire her an awful lot?
The Dolly Haze in Nabokov’s novel. Dolores “Dolly” “Lolita” Haze. The cute teen who should have been spanked a bit more?
It’s not that great a secret, Cul. :)
And Adele’s secre real name is
Anastacia Augusta Dolomita Nicolaia Smiertz-Volkova.
(just kidding)