If you had to change your name, what would your new name be?

In my lifetime, I have changed my name five times.

My birth name on my birth certificate was given to me by my parents, which I never used, since my father changed our last name to align with his stage and pen name. Also, they referred to me by my nickname, which was bestowed upon me by my father on my birthday.

Mom was on the giggle gas for the pain, and dad was still drunk from the party they were in the middle of when I suddenly decided to arrive. Fifteen minutes after getting to the hospital, I made my grand entrance.

“Carol,” said my father, “she looks as pink as a ballerinas tutu.”

“Oh Buddy, that’s funny! Hi Tutu!” came mom’s slightly inebriated response.

And there it was. Forget the beautiful Italian name that is on my birth certificate, they stuck me with the moniker “Tutu”.

Then I grew some, and had to learn how to spell my “real” name-Antonia. Mom made up a song to spell it out for me-each letter got a note. By the end of the two block walk to school, I had it memorized.

Then I grow a little older, and decided to get my first job. At this point, I didn’t really know much about my original last name, since my parents had changed it just outside of the realm of legality. So, now in school, I received a new ID, I was the only kid at Glenbard West that had an “a.k.a.” on my ID card. It felt kind of weird, but it got the job of proving I was who I said I was done.

Then, I decided to get married straight out of high school. Yet again, my name changed, as I took his last name.

24 years later, and I had to consider changing my name again after the divorce. I decided to keep it the same, so I would match with my child. Perhaps, I thought, it would make them feel less “othered”.

Then in 2019, I delightfully changed it for the final time, evolving to my present form. And this is the name that I want and I do not want to change it ever again. So, to answer the daily writing prompt – I wouldn’t change my name for the world.