I haven’t done one of these for a while so here goes. My middle name is Eileen, it was also my mother’s middle name and presumably that’s why I have it.

Except that both mum and I had Eileen as our first name on our birth certificates. Mum was born on Christmas Day 1921 so she was to be named Carol Eileen. The story goes that my grandfather was so flustered by the birth of his fifth child, who announced her arrival as my grandmother was cooking goose for Christmas dinner, that he put the names the wrong way round. Mum was always known as Carol though.

My story is more mundane. I don’t know if I was named Eileen Vanda on purpose or not. I was always known as Vanda but I used to get annoyed at school because when I was asked my middle name other kids would often ask “Can I call you Eileen instead?” This annoyed me intensely; it was as if they didn’t like my name. I think Eileen is a nice name but I liked Vanda and didn’t want to give it up. So, the answer was always a resounding “No!”

The final straw came when I went to apply for my first passport. I was told that it would be issued in the name of Eileen and that would be my official name. “Oh no you don’t.” I thought and went off to officially change my names around by deed poll. I think it only cost a couple of dollars back then. It was probably unnecessary really but I was just fed up with the whole Eileen thing by then. So now my middle name is officially Eileen and nobody ever asks about it.