What’s in a Name?

I have always been fond of names.  My own is quite lovely, if I do say so myself.  I like the way it sounds.  I like the story about the choice of it.  I love what it means.  That said, there are times and places in which I am leery of giving it out.  This is one of them.  It’s not that I don’t stand behind anything I plan to publish here.  But I do want to keep my personal writings, be they mere musings or full-on feminist rages, separate from my professional writings.  So I went in search of a pseudonym.
 

My friend Bob deserves credit for Anne of Cleaves.  I started with Anne, and he suggested “Anne of Cloves.”  I’m neither an Anglophile nor a history buff, but I did recognize the reference to Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII.  I turned it down because I don’t care much for cloves.  But his next pitch, “Anne of Cleavers,” suited me quite well.

You might be wondering what happened to the r.  Well, there is a derby gal who goes by Anne of Cleavers.  I don’t know her, having learned about her from a Google search, and I don’t know if she has copyrighted the name.  But I love flat-track roller derby, and I didn’t want to run over a fellow feminist’s toes.

I fussed about what to do.  I considered going back to “Anne of Cloves,” but I just couldn’t reconcile that pseudonym to me.  Then I started thinking about the meaning of cleave.  One meaning is to sunder.  Hence the cleaver gets its name, presumably.  But it also means to join together, becoming one.

I plan for this blog to be a place to share both my feminism and my recipes.  I suspect that many people will see them as unrelated aspects of my character.  But there are no unrelated aspects of one’s self.  I find myself having to explain to many people (even some feminists) that I can be feminist and enjoy traditionally feminine pursuits and performances.  I can be a feminist and wear a plunging neckline.  I can be a feminist and take my husband’s surname.  I can be feminist and be anything.  I can be anything because I am a feminist.

So sit back and watch me cleave.

~ Anne