The lovely actress Teresa Wright

Growing up, I always wondered why my parents had named me “Teresa“. It isn’t a particularly common name (“Theresa” did make it to #65 in 1950); I lost track of the number of “Mary”s I grew up with, however!

The only other girl I knew in Elementary School who shared my name was a friend’s little sister – she was the 3rd or 4th daughter in a Catholic family, and I remember thinking that they must have run out of names by the time she came along (come to think of it, “Teresa” was her middle name; three guesses what her first name was….)

Don’t get me wrong – I like my name; it’s just that I never really had anything that I could point to as a kid and say, “Hey, look – there’s my name!” (that all changed in 1988, when Mattel introduced their “Teresa” Barbie, but by that time I was already a mom).

She’s been glammed up a bit since she was first introduced

When we went on vacation, my sister (Beverly) and I would always look for something with our name on it – a cheap license plate, a mug, a thimble, a necklace, etc. Bev lucked out more often than I did.  Most of the time there was a space – and sometimes even a product – for “Terry” (which, I’m told, was originally going to be my name, until I was born; Mom took one look at me and declared that I “didn’t look like a Terry”, so “Teresa” I became) or “Theresa”, but very rarely was there a spot for something with a “Teresa” on it.

And when there was, it was ALWAYS empty. Apparently all of the other “Teresa”s had gotten there before me….

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