life as a kiki.

With a name like Kiki, I get some pretty interesting responses when I meet people for the first time (aka when they hear that my name is Kiki).

Here's one. Have you ever seen Kiki's Delivery Service? Well, let me answer that for you. I haven't. And my name is Kiki, believe it or not. Okay, so that totally came out WAY ruder than I meant it to. Because sadly, no, I haven't seen this movie. Even if it is named after me. :)

Sometimes people just don't understand what I say at first. I guess I need to work on my annunciation. Usually the first set of "Ki" comes out fine but sometimes the second set comes our as a "lee" sound or something. So then people think I'm Keeley or something...

When people do hear my name correctly, I'm often greeted with the response "Oh! That's mine (my best friend's, my cousin's, my grandmother's, etc.) cat's name!" How exactly should I respond to this? Usually I end up smiling and saying "Really?" in a sort of shocked response. Any suggestions?

And as if my name isn't weird enough, people come up with nicknames for my name (especially once they get to know me). I don't really mind seeing as it's happened forever. In fact, I think people who can come up with variations to my four letter long, two letter total name is a genius. I've been called "Ikik" (sounds like EEK-EEK! or the sound your mother makes when she sees a mouse in the house). I've also been called "Kiki-Wiki (spelling?). And my dad refers to Wikipedia as Kikipedia...

Another extremely common response from people is "Oh! That's such a cute name!" I think I even had a mom say that she loved that name and wanted to name her next child that. Or maybe I was just doing some wishful dreaming or something. I'm used to people using the word cute since I've heard it in reference to my name since I was a child. But as I get older I often wonder what people will use. Like, when I'm seventy nine and in a wheelchair, will they still say that? Or will it be "Wow, what a distinguished name!" Okay, that will never happen. No matter how old I am.

So there you have it. Life with my name. So before you name your next child Kiki, maybe you should stick to naming your cat that.

Just kidding. I actually really LOVE my name. I like that I never had to be use my last initial to be differentiated from classmates. I like how easy and short my name is (makes it easy to fill out papers that have short lines for writing one's name). I also like finding random products that are named after me. Yep, I like to think of myself as the original Kiki.

Maybe I'll end up with a cat named after me, a boyfriend that reminds me of Where's Waldo and wear a red bow on my hair. Then everyone will know what my name is!