Mom was BIG into Scrabble, which had already been around half a forever by the time my 3 older sisters came around and it became part of our upbringing. I noticed another commonality about our names; when positioned 'just so' on a Scrabble board, there are SERIOUS double-letter or -word scores to be had. I'm sure you'll appreciate the great lengths to which I've gone to illustrate these very important concepts, below.
I think that Mom's not 'liking' the Sylvia name was only part true.
She didn't like it as WELL as the higher-scoring letters and placement of 'Gwyneth' in her little game. Her first kid, Pamela, brought a whopping 29 points with two high-stakes consonants, 'p' and 'm'. Well, that, plus the double word score for the game's first player. After that, even with the cleverer 2 higher-scoring letters, at 4 each, 'h' and 'y', she only got 18 with my second sister.
By the time Leigh rolled around, seems Mom was entering into her Gaelic phase; but she was down to a score of 13, maybe because of board crowding. Notice that 'Sylvia' would've only garnered a 12, which would've been depressing (certainly unwelcome).
Now, Mom also disclosed to me she'd thought of spelling my name with two 'd''s at the end, as is tradition (in Wales, anyway, not that anyone stateside would know to pronounce them as 'th'). I'm grateful she didn't, or anyone saying my name would sound congested, and I'd be sentenced to gently smile, explain, and sometimes roll my eyes for the rest of my life.
Not to mention, by using the 'th' she got one more point than 2 'd''s and was able to tie it in to the rest of the game.
On the other hand, the first three girls' name endings were somewhat musical: 'la, lee, lee', in a way. 'Gwyneth', on the other hand, almost rhymes with 'enough'. But, ah! When our adoptive sister came along in Mom's 70's, she brought with her a good 18 points of free score for Mom, which easily tied in to the framing already there.
I wonder, though, if Mom would've been so enthusiastic if Deb's name had been 'Sylvia', though. Hmmmm...
In any case, I gotta give Mom some points for her creative naming!
