What's in a Name

Several people have asked me since Emry was born, “Where did you get her name?” And, that’s quite a reasonable question. One I don’t mind explaining.

First of all, I realize we have given our daughter a name that could drive her crazy. When you first say it, many people reply, “Emily?” So, I spell it. And if she ever has to give her full name, we have burdened her with three names she will have to spell out very carefully (like I did at the doctor’s office). After that, we decided she should marry a very average Smith or Jones. Maybe that will even out any complexes we have given her.

In truth, I’m not 100% sure where “Emry” came from. I came upon it when I was about nine years old and in the fourth grade. I’m not sure if I read it in a book, or saw it somewhere, or what. That was about the time I became a voracious reader, although I had been reading every word that crossed my line of vision since I learned to put letters together in Kindergarten. Wherever I saw it, I liked it. And wanted to have a daughter by that name someday. And now I do.

For those interested, Emry means “industrious; hardworking”. I am hoping she will live up to it, although it’s hard to tell right now. She is a very contended, rather laid back baby.

Her middle name “Ogilvie” is very easy to explain. That is my mother’s maiden name. (Or, now, her middle name since she dropped her middle name and moved her maiden name when she married.) So, Emry is named after her Grandma Sturm. I wanted to use the name because my mom never got to. She wanted to use it as a middle name for one of her sons, but she only had two and so it never got used. And, in a way, it’s to honor the grandfather I never knew (my grandfather Ogilvie died six years before I was born) but have heard much about all my life.

Ogilvie is the name of a Scottish clan and means “high place”. Perhaps that is appropriate since she was born in Pittsburgh which is surrounded by hills. Plus, the city was named in honor of the Prime Minister of England William Pitt and the Scottish city of Edinburgh where General John Forbes, the man who named Pittsburgh in 1758, was from. (Hence the “H” at the end of its name, although it is not pronounced as Edinburgh is even though that is what was intended.)

To complete her name, Camus means “crooked nose”. I am the first to say she does not have a crooked nose. The name is French (or, more accurately, it is from Lorraine-Alsace – one of those countries in Europe that has disappeared after belonging to both France and Germany) and who knows why the family took that name. Perhaps the first Camus really did have a crooked nose. Or maybe he was a plastic surgeon who corrected crooked noses. (Likely not, but that’s better than the alternative – having received a crooked nose in a bar fright.)

So, there you have it. Emry Ogilvie Camus. My daughter.