Week 24: Popular Name (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

Week 24’s theme is Popular Name.  When I was in kindergarten, there were 3 girls named Amy. We liked to sit next to each other, which drove Miss Rockwell crazy. She'd call on "Amy" and all 3 of us would respond. Good times... Click here to check out all the themes for 2022.

It’s been a while since I participated in Amy Johnson’s Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. I either didn't feel the prompt, or was on vacation and then I got the dreaded COVID. So even though I thought of writing, my brain was not cooperating in any way, shape or form.

Anyway, I am back and I will be trying to do better.

I don’t have a common name. In fact, when my family would travel and camp across the United States, finding souvenirs with my name was a challenge. I hated that my name wasn’t common. As I grew, I appreciated having an uncommon name. Teachers would forget what my name was and thus, I won’t get called on in class. I remember sitting next to a Charlotte and the teacher would look over to us and say, I hate that you too are sitting next to each other. Many people would call me Charlotte because people could not remember Charlene.

When I met my husband and he asked my name, I told him he probably would forget. Turns out, he had an Aunt Charlene. Aunt Charlene thought it was cool that my name was Charlene too. I am always a little too excited to find other women named Charlene. 

A recent funny story is while watching HGTV show “Fixer to Fabulous: Welcome Inn”, this is a home improvement show with Dave and Jenny Marrs from Arkansas. They purchased a truck that came with the name, wait for it... "Charlene". They had a scene where they were talking about how Charlene was good at first. Dave was excited to have Charlene in his life. But then Charlene led him on and left him high and dry. My hubby and I never laughed so hard in our lives. View it here. Don't forget to turn your volume up and think of me as they describe Charlene. It makes it so much funnier.

Back to real genealogy, well sort of.. I ran a report on my main tree of 13,229 individuals to see what the most common names first names were. For females it was Mary and John for males. No surprises there. I did find five other Charlene's in my database. Not too bad, maybe I need to start a Charlene club. Any Charlene's out there?

Remember, Just do Genealogy!