Wow, I really did not think I would have to fight this battle, aka educate the entire world that Sally is a nickname for Sarah. In my observation, only Sallys and Sarahs know this little piece of trivia.
At our annual February Star Island Corporation retreat, the opening exercise was to make a name tag with your nickname on it. Being the rebel that I am I put my actual name on it SARAH. Sally is my nickname, but only for one summer, and the 30 hours of the retreat have people actually called me Sarah.
I am a seventh generation Sarah, my Mom is a sixth generation one, and is Sarah Virginia, always called Ginny. I think at birth I was nicknamed Sally.
The battle with officials and authorities continues. I once almost could not board a plane after 9/11 because my passport says Sarah and the ticket said Sally. Yesterday my doctor's office receptionist said "You almost did not get this message because your answering machine says Sally." I get this probably twice a week.
OK, why can Roberts be Bob, even with a different starting letter? Why is William ok to be Bill, also different starting letter? Margaret and Peg? You see where I am going. Sally and Sarah even start with the same letter!
So I am thinking of reclaiming my name of Sarah. It was pretty easy for the 30 hours of the retreat. It would solve all of those "I thought your name was Sally!" from the receptionists and officials.
8 comments:
Hello from another Sarah/Sally! I love being able to switch to my "Sarah" personality (must more serious than Sally) in a new environment. I think of the nickname as a benefit more than troublesome, however High School with substitute teachers was a real embarrassment!
My family calls me Sally and at school and work I'm Sarah. At a parent teacher conference once my mother kept going on about "Sally says this... Sally does that..." and the teacher stopped her and said, "Could you please stop talking about Sally? We're concentrating on your daughter Sarah!" LMAO I'm kind of surprised how many people don't know the Sarah/Sally connection, but I guess Sally isn't very popular nowadays.
My name is Sally, and my sister's name is Sarah. I absolutely hate that my name is considered a nickname for the name Sarah, they barely sound alike! It drives me crazy that there are some Sarah's out there that go by Sally. But, thankfully, I've never been called Sarah (except by my mother who can't keep her 4 children's names right for love nor money) or been asked if that was my real name.
Hello! I'm a Sally/Sarah, too! My grandmother was Sarah but her nickname was Sadie. However, I have found evidence that some of the previous generations of Sarah went by Sally. I, too, find myself educating people about it on a pretty regular basis. I usually tell people that Benjamin Franklin's daughter was a Sarah, but all his letters to her start with "Dear Sally." Turn it into a history lesson!
You ladies all have my sympathies regarding people's foulups, bleeps and blunders regarding Sally/Sarah/Sara, etc. My g-grandmother has always been known to me as "Sallie". I've found her only once by that name in my family history research. So now when I search online I have to enter all three spellings in hopes of finding her. Note to WickedAlice . . . my grandmother had seven grandchildren and frequently got flustered trying to call out the guilty party when one of us did something naughty . . . so she just started at the top of the list and scolded all of us until she got to the right one! :-)
Having just been turned away by TSA at the Houston airport for daring to try to board a flight with a boarding pass under the name of Sara and a drivers license under the name of Sally I googled the question and came upon this blog spot. How funny to find out that there are more of me out there. The United Airlines counter personnel did not believe that Sally is a nickname for Sara. Nor did TSA.
My mom is a Sally (no nickname), and her mom was a Sally, given name Sarah. I never knew that until I started working on my family tree, amd wondered why my mom's mother was coming up as Sarah. My mom told me that it's a nickname, and apparently my grandmother hated being called Sarah, so she opted for the name Sally instead. At least that's what I remember being told. Anyway, that's all I ever knew her by, was Sally. I never understood why Sarah was also called Sally.
I also used to have a manager named Sarah, who sometimes went by Sadie, if I remember correctly. I never quite understood that nickname, either.
I also have never understood why Jack is a nickname for John, either. Same first letter, same number of letters and syllables. It's not shortening anything. Lol
Love this blog! I've always used Sarah for official documents and such, but my whole life was called Sally. My Mom was a big believer in the proper origin and derivation of names (my brother Jack's given name was John). I've also had to explain this to 99+% of the people I've met. I'm often asked why I don't just drop Sarah altogether. I can't really explain it except that my mother gave it to me!
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