Growing up my sister went to school with some very oddly named children:

Zachariah Buckbell Buchanan
Wendolyn Mage

…and my favorite…

Heidi Ann Seeke (her parents thought it would be fun)

My own parents believed that girls should have unique names and boys should have “good, sturdy names.” So the girls are named Shayla Mae, Alissa Dawn, and Aubrey Rose. My brothers are named Christopher Douglas (nearly Christopher Robin), Dave James, and James Dean. I was old enough to talk them out of Christopher Robin, but they wouldn’t listen when my sister and I argued against James Dean. Aubrey is from a Bread song released in the 70s.

I noticed that my name (Shayla) made one of the posts of “ridiculous” names. During high school, my name was constantly pronounced Shy-lah instead of SHAY-lah, and I’m perpetually having to tell people that I’m not Sheila. Having said that, I do like my name and it’s often shortened to Shay, which is unoffensive.

I’ve been told by several people of Arabic decent that there is a word that sounds like my name in their language and it means “Bargain” or “Good Deal”… Friends that overheard this quickly spread this around & they all say “What a Shayla I got on my new car!” or other similar phrases. There was also period in the 80s that I hated it, but that was because I was called She-ra by the kids at school or “He-Man’s Sister”….

The combination with my middle name sounds like The Hick Dream, doesn’t it? “Shayla Mae! Go feed them-there chickens!” I do get a lot of compliments on my first name though, which means “Hebrew princess” or “Of the Faerie Fort” depending upon which name book & etemology you choose to go with. I jokingly combine them into one–Hebrew Princess of the Faerie Fort–which connects nicely back to He-Man, don’t you think?

By the Power of Greyskull,
Shayla