Elli. Elli Kay. Inspired by Elli Mae. Not short for Elizabeth, Eleanor or Eliza. Just Elli.
I'm always the Enthusiastic Elephant in that first-letter game, and no one at the doctor's office gets my name right: they pronounce it "Eli". Don't even ask how they spell it.
My sister called me Smelly. It was after a night of eating sardines when I was 6. I'd been introduced to those canned fishes by a kindergarten teacher and much to my sister's disgust, I thought those perfectly preserved treats were quite good (especially since most others found them incredibly gross). On this particular night, as my sister babysat me, she refused to give me a bath. I sat in the bathtub, the water growing cold, alone. Apparently I smelled of a hundred of those little fishes.
This smelly idea stuck even as the name changed: I soon became known as Smell-Rod (a deviation from my other nick name of Elrod). It's still a favorite of mine, probably due to the ease in which it rolls off the tongue and lips. It's a strong, slithery name which feels powerful and silly all at the same time.
"Rotten" also became my name, a deviation from Smell-rod, but one lingers to this day. Perhaps I like it most because it's the opposite of "sweet" - everything my mom had wanted me to be. When I had told her I wanted to grow up to become a belly dancer, she assumed I meant ballet dancer. But I adamantly refused to wear pink. In fact, even then, black was my dress-up color of choice. It was also my favorite color crayon as well. There was something soft and velvety and smooth about that crayon which glided across the coloring book pages in a way the other crayons didn't. I took to coloring in all my color-book characters in supposed night scenes, just so I could use that black crayon. My mother must have been just a bit concerned about those blackened pages of Snow White and Cinderella.
In many cultures "sun ray" or "shining light" is the meaning given to the name Elli, but just as many also define the name in almost opposing terms: "other" or "foreigner". In a way, this dichotomy fits. I'm part Enthusiastic, and part Rotten. A shining light in the land of the other. Or vice versa.
Or, just Elli.
I'm always the Enthusiastic Elephant in that first-letter game, and no one at the doctor's office gets my name right: they pronounce it "Eli". Don't even ask how they spell it.
My sister called me Smelly. It was after a night of eating sardines when I was 6. I'd been introduced to those canned fishes by a kindergarten teacher and much to my sister's disgust, I thought those perfectly preserved treats were quite good (especially since most others found them incredibly gross). On this particular night, as my sister babysat me, she refused to give me a bath. I sat in the bathtub, the water growing cold, alone. Apparently I smelled of a hundred of those little fishes.
This smelly idea stuck even as the name changed: I soon became known as Smell-Rod (a deviation from my other nick name of Elrod). It's still a favorite of mine, probably due to the ease in which it rolls off the tongue and lips. It's a strong, slithery name which feels powerful and silly all at the same time.
"Rotten" also became my name, a deviation from Smell-rod, but one lingers to this day. Perhaps I like it most because it's the opposite of "sweet" - everything my mom had wanted me to be. When I had told her I wanted to grow up to become a belly dancer, she assumed I meant ballet dancer. But I adamantly refused to wear pink. In fact, even then, black was my dress-up color of choice. It was also my favorite color crayon as well. There was something soft and velvety and smooth about that crayon which glided across the coloring book pages in a way the other crayons didn't. I took to coloring in all my color-book characters in supposed night scenes, just so I could use that black crayon. My mother must have been just a bit concerned about those blackened pages of Snow White and Cinderella.
In many cultures "sun ray" or "shining light" is the meaning given to the name Elli, but just as many also define the name in almost opposing terms: "other" or "foreigner". In a way, this dichotomy fits. I'm part Enthusiastic, and part Rotten. A shining light in the land of the other. Or vice versa.
Or, just Elli.
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