When I was born I was given the name Bonnie Michelle. Some people called me by only my first name and others used both. In my mind I was Bonnie.
When I was five, I thought, “I’m going into 1st grade now. I’m not a baby anymore. Bonnie is a baby’s name. I’ll start going by Michelle.”
Thus initiated my first rebrand.
In high school I rebranded again. I was annoyed at my regular statement, “My first name is Bonnie, but I go by my middle name, Michelle.” My mother suggested I go by “B. Michelle.” She sited some famous people who used first initials. It seemed like a great idea.
Other than my government teacher, Mr. Simpson*, who would call me BEEE Michelle, everyone seemed to go with the rebrand. I am even listed as B. Michelle in the yearbook.
In college, every semester held a new instructor who would call roll with “Bonnie.” That coupled with dealing with doctors, lawyers and police (I had been held up at gunpoint), prompted a rebrand back to Bonnie.
Two years ago when I got married, I started signing my name “Bon.” If you have a name with repetitive letters or shapes, you will understand my plight. When handwritten, “Michelle” has four loops, “elle.” My first name has two multi-hump letters, “nn.” Both are difficult to write fast. I was marrying into a two “r” last name, a letter I was always fond of writing. I took the opportunity to initiate a rebrand of my first name as well as my last.
So now I’m Bon Crowder. Rebranded again after 15 years. Rebranded and refreshed.
Are you ready for a rebrand? Tell us about it in the comments section.
(And stay tuned tomorrow for a post on how to rebrand and why you would want to.)
*Names were not changed to protect the innocent. Mr. Simpson was not innocent, nor was he a bad teacher. He was indeed one of my favorite teachers, and later one of my favorite coworkers!