Surnames

(Sorry for the lack of updates yesterday and Tuesday. First, I spent all day in bed feeling awful, and then yesterday I had to pick myself up to go to my college's career fair. It was awful and I couldn't get myself to sit at the computer at all!)

I'm not a huge fan of my last name.

B, M, and me!

I use it when I have to - on Facebook, so that my friends from lives past recognize me, on job applications, so that my degree and professional experience can all be listed under one name. However, in general, it's just not that great.

No offense to my father or his family, but my last name just doesn't tell you much about me. It's of Jewish origin, and its purpose is to announce the birth of a son. Since I am not Jewish (in fact, I'm quite agnostic) and I am no one's son, it's fairly useless in describing me.

In addition, I don't like the way it sounds with my first name.

An easy solution here would be to get married. Unfortunately, there's a lot more involved in that type of union, like a long-lasting, loving relationship, and the desire to spend your foreseeable future with the same person.

Back in the day. I think this is from 2004?

Using a pen name is something I've considered for a long time. I've been writing for nearly my entire life, and it would be nice to have a name I feel strongly about in my bylines and about-the-authors.

But how does one come up with such a pseudonym? I've looked through my family history, trying to find a name I relate to better than my family name, but really none of them stick out. A German word about royalty,  one named after a foreign stream, or "handsome man." The only one I didn't hate was Cook, and really that just sounds awful with Kait.

Kait Cook? Ugh.

Christmas 2006, in Hawaii!

Of course I did that little girly thing when I was younger and had crushes, where I'd pair my first name with a cute boy's last to see how it sounds. In general, they all sounded better than the starting combination. However, it would be kind of strange to take an ex-boyfriend's (or less) name as my own.

So here I am at a blank slate. I could be Kait Anybody. Heck, I could even change Kait if I wanted to (but I probably wouldn't because I just don't see myself as any other first name). I could reference a favorite literary figure, movie star, or Disney character.

Kait Philips, for the prince from Sleeping Beauty, also means lover of horses. Kait Levitt, because JGL is amazing. Kait Strawberry Milkshake, Kait Reese, Kait Everything.

Oh who could I be?