Let Me Introduce Myself
By Phyllis Knox
This blog is part of a very special series created and written by Phyllis Knox, “Alphabetic Musings”, whereby she chooses a word starting with a particular letter from the alphabet and injects it with her storytelling magic. That magic starts here, with Phyllis telling us about herself in advance of her first post of the series “‘A’ is for America” on March 10, 2023.
FIRST, LET ME introduce myself. My name is Phyllis Ann Knox. I, like you, did not choose my own name. It became a major problem for me from the time I left home and walked up the hill to my first-grade class and it has continued to be problematic for the 74-year-old me! When asked my name, I hesitate, I swallow hard, I turn red, I try to make sounds that will simplify my name. But, try as I may, people look at me, look away from me, and ask me to repeat it but, to no avail. Nothing guides strangers through the complicated sounds nor through the impossible spelling. My mother used to say that I was so lucky that I have her namesake…I loved her so much but, her name, not so much.
As a five-year-old in grade 1, I struggled to learn how to write it. I can remember sitting in class while a nun watched over me as I was told to practice holding my pencil CORRECTLY while trying to put the seven letters of my first name in a legible manner within the lines of my “CANADA” workbook. Over and over and over, the practice went on for what seemed like…forever. One day, I got it. My teacher congratulated me…now, all I had to do was spell it out (not to mention sound it out) a thousand more times through the next 3/4’s of a century! Thanks Mom and Dad!
The students around me were so sweet. I remember some of their names…Carole, Louise, Johanne, Claire, Michelle, Helene and Lise. I remember being somewhat jealous of the simplicity of their names, names that were instantly understood and ACCEPTED. I would ask myself why I couldn’t have been given an easy name like theirs but, no, I needed to have a name that stood out (not in a good way) from all the rest? The kids called me Felix…I get it, close enough, I guess. The problem was that there was a very popular cartoon that was shown on tv at the time. The show was in French and was called “Felix le Chat” and I didn’t and still don’t like cats, oh well, EH!
Had I continued living in Halifax, Nova Scotia where I was born, my name would most likely not have been an issue. There would have been a Phyllis or two in the school which I would have attended but, the family moved to Three Rivers in 1951, thanks Mom and Dad!
In all honestly, my unique name has been both an asset and a pain throughout the years…..It has opened conversations for me as people’s curiosities are stimulated by its oddity and yet, it’s far-away combination of sound and spelling sometimes lead people to say, “C’est beau comme nom” or “C’est différent ça!”. I am never quite sure if that is complementary or whether that is a good thing or not. I have learned to live with it and I just smile!
They say that “A rose is a rose by any other name.” That is easy to say if your name is Rose or Violet or Hyacinth. Then again, I would probably choose the name ‘Phyllis’ if I now had to choose a name for myself…Thanks Mom and Dad!
I am sure you will remember my name and I hope to meet you at an activity in the near future. Bye for now!
Postscript: While I used to be quite uncomfortable with and critical of my name, I am now, as an adult, aware of the history of my name. I am happy to know that its roots go back thousands of years to Ancient Greece; Phyllis was a name for girls used by both Greeks and Romans, and it means “foliage.” The Ancient Romans added so many medical and legal terms/words to their lists of important vocabulary. The Italians and the Spanish use similar words and names in their vocabularies, and modern Greek, Italian and Spanish have added the use of the p-h-y or p-h-i to many, many words including ….my name.
Wow! Thanks Mom & Dad….no small thing, I’d say!
