We all know Anne of Green Gables. The red-headed, opinionated, spirited orphan who ended up at Green Gables from a mistake at the orphanage. I could quote many Anne lines, but I always have loved how she was so strong-willed that her name is “Anne with an e.” It doesn’t matter that the “e” is silent; the person hearing it will still hear it with an e if that’s how they imagine it spelled.

I completely understand Anne. In fact, I feel like Anne and I have a lot in common. (I do always wish that I had smacked a boy on the head with my school books.) I have had a sincere hatred for the nickname “Emi” for years. If my brothers call me that out of spite, I won’t respond until they call me “Emily” or “Em.” Either one if perfectly fine, but “Emi” has been a huge annoyance to me. Allow me to explain…

I used to hate my name.

When I was seven or eight, I informed my mom that I was going to legally change my name when I was old enough to do it by myself since she refused to take me to the legal offices herself. I hated the name that her and Dad gave me. In my mind, Emily was a baby name. I was quite sure that there was no way that an adult named Emily would be taken seriously. (I also went through a phase where I spelled my name Emilie because I thought it looked more adult-like; I still love that spelling!)

Now, I’m twenty-two and I have firmly established that I love my name. First of all, it’s cool and, secondly, it looks beautiful on paper. Emily. Plus, I get the awesome nickname, Em, out of it, which, coincidently, is also my initials: E.M.

When I started my job at the bank, I discovered another very unique thing about my name when I logged into my computer one morning. Check it out: “Emily Miller”. You can write “emiller” or “emily” simply by substituting the final “y” for “ler.” Sweet. How many other people can do that?!

Yes, my name is most common as “Emily” has been the #1 female baby name since ’88 or something crazy like that, but that’s okay. I’m okay with sharing my name. Miller also is as common of a name as Johnson, but again, that’s okay. It’s a strong name, one that I will only have for about 9 more months. As for my middle name, Lorae, I am very proud to say that I’ve met only one other person who shares my middle name. (Roxie, cheers!)

I’m glad that my mom didn’t let me change my name when I was eight. Emily is much cooler than my eight-year-old wanna-be name. [For reasons of awfulness, said name is being left out of the text.]

Emily Lorae Miller. It has a nice ring. And only one letter dips below the line, which was always a bonus in Kindergarten on the double lined spelling paper. Since I am going to be changing my last name to Crall, I do not feel too hesitant because there are still two L’s so I feel like it’s really only changing a few letters, but the core of the name is still intact. Also, Crall doesn’t dip below the line either, another handy trait that my children will be able to thank me for some day when they are in Kindergarten.

So, you see, I truly love my name. For several months now, I have been considering adding Emmy (NOT Emi) to my nickname resume. Emmy sounds better than Emi; just like Anne with an e sounds better than Ann. Here are several reasons that I think the nickname Emmy might be a nice name after all:
1) The Emmy Awards are pretty sweet and it’s cool to have the same name as a prestigious award.
2) Jennifer Lopez named her daughter Emme. (note: Emme with an e is still cooler than Emi with an i, though it’s not as cool as Emmy with a y.)
3) Emmy Rossum. Need I say more? Beautiful woman with incredible vocal cords. Phantom of the Opera.
4) Emmy comes from the name Emma, which was my grandmother’s name.
6) Emmy Andriesse, a photographer who illegally documented photos of the devastation of land and life in Amsterdam during World War II.
7) Emmy Noether, described as the most important woman in the history of mathematics.
8) Emmy Verhey, a child prodigy on the violin.

Emily. Em. Emmy. Any way you look at it, it’s not so bad after all.

Kudos, Anne. It’s all in the spelling of the name.