What's In a Name?

I have, it seems, survived turning fifty. Nothing disastrous has happened. My ass hasn't dropped to the floor. I didn't wake up with bride-of-Frankenstein freaky gray hair. I know where my keys are. I feel pretty darned good. In honor of turning fifty, I have painted my toenails purple and my feet look quite festive. So I was thinking about other notable women who will turn fifty this year. The first two who came to mind are the same two who come to mind nearly every time my birthday rolls around. The Carolines. Caroline, Princess of Monaco, who turned fifty back in January, and Caroline Kennedy, American Princess, who will celebrate her fiftieth birthday in November. And then I think about how I was very nearly named Caroline after my paternal grandmother. My mother says that all four of us kids are lucky we have names at all. Apparently four of the major tussles in my parents' marriage were what to name the kids. I did get the first syllable of Martha Caroline's middle name. but I really would have loved getting the whole thing. I look like a Caroline. I feel like a Caroline. No doubt I may even smell like a Caroline. I have an ancestral, matriarchal claim to the name! But, alas, I was not given the name by my feuding parents. So I've been wondering what is in a name after all. Would my life be significantly different if I had grown up with the same name as the princesses? Did opportunities for wealth and fame pass me by because I'm not a Caroline? One thing for sure, if my name was Caroline, I would have a song. I would be Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline. I would be AbbySomeOne's Caroline. I could hear music in an elevator and hum along, surrounded by strangers, and know my name was immortalized in song. I'd love to get together with the Princess Carolines sometime and see if they would allow me to be an Honorary Princess Caroline. Maybe just on my birthday. Which I guess I'm doing anyway. In my heart, I am a Caroline. Maybe when I'm old enough to get away with it, I'll adopt wearing a tiara on a daily basis and insist that people call me Princess Caroline. It's going to be fun! Maybe next week.