We’ve all had that moment when someone calls your name and you whip your head around only to find out whoever said it wasn’t calling you, but someone with the same name, and now you’ve just about given yourself whiplash…awkward. Try having that happen to you at least ten times on a daily basis. Welcome to my world.
I am a sister of Alpha Gamma Delta here at SHU and something us Greeks have are pledge classes—a group of girls who join the same organization at the same time. My pledge class consists of 35 lovely women. The tricky thing is, about half of us share a name with someone else.
Just within the 35 of us, there are: three variations of “Gabrielle,” four variations of “Stephanie,” three “Nicoles,” two “Sams,” and two “Meg(h)ans.” I’m sure now you see the dilemma.
Every day our 35-person group chat is full of “No, not you,” and “The other one,” and simultaneous interpretations of “Wait, me???” Now, this is only between 35 girls of the entire sorority. Add roughly 75 more girls into the mix and you’re just asking for a disaster.
One of my personal favorites it at chapter meetings when someone calls out a name and about five to six girls raise their hands or yell the typical “Yes? Wait, which one???” Or, when someone is yelling my name but I think they are talking to my friend, Gabby—who of course I am always with—and they get annoyed and I usually get a (hard) slap on the shoulder and a “Hello?? I’ve been calling you’re name for, like, ever! You’re so deaf.” Maybe I should think twice next time before becoming best friends with a girl who has the same name…
It definitely is a struggle, but we have some minor solutions. This is where nicknames become your best friends. But when you put a bunch of teenage girls in charge of creating nicknames that usually result from some stupid drunken night, or just something really really inappropriate, you can’t exactly run around campus yelling them—especially at a Catholic school, yikes. But it at least helps in the group chat, and hey, they are hilarious.
From this confusion, my big (a mentor-like figure in a sorority) has single-handedly started a new tradition. On our initiation we get these kick-ass wind breakers with our letters on the back and our first names monogramed on the front. But, when there are three of you with the same name, there is bound to be a wind breaker fiasco in the future. So, my big decided to add the first letter of my last name to mine and I proudly strut around with my super specialized wind breaker. My “D” is my identity.
You know, if you really think about it, our parents could have avoided this entire mess if they had just been a little more creative. I know, Mom and Dad, it was easy to get swept away in the early to mid 90s name trends, but I’m just saying that maybe there should be more unique names like Beyoncé, Zendaya, and Madonna. I doubt those three ever had to deal with the shoulder slaps and accusations of hearing loss.
Disclaimer: Her Campus Seton Hall and Alpha Gamma Delta Fraternity do not endorse underage drinking.