What's in a name?

Unless you're Jackie Kennedy or Prince Philip, don't try and be a star in your spouse's orbit.  Jackie and the Duke are the only two people I can think of who were stars in their own right.  

Diana Carney shouldn't even try it.  She can't pull it off.

But she did, touring some arts centre or other in Charlottetown, when Mark turned up at the provincial premiers' conference for two hours to....to....uh....??  I have no clue why he was there?!  But there was Diana, acting like she mattered, "Engaging in official cultural and community activities," as the press release described them.  Spare me.

Frankly, she always looks like a bag lady -- even in Chanel (and that's an insult to respectable bag ladies everywhere).  When I was a child, we had a cleaning lady named Mrs. Cameron and my Mother and Aunts would give her hand-me-downs.  Diana reminds me of Mrs. Cameron, always looking ill-dressed and out-of-place.

And let's look at her name.  She calls herself "Diana Fox Carney".  Why?  Was she so famous that she had to keep her maiden name?  Puts me in mind of Adrienne Clarkson's husband, John Ralston Saul.  Also reminds me of a boss I had who was named "Monica Jones-Kisil".  She had kept her maiden name because she was apparently so famous she had to?  I mean, "Jones"?  That was a famous name??

And what's with the "Ralston" part of Saul's name?  He's really just "John Saul", as is Diana.  She's just "Diana Carney".

Looking at my name, here's the explanation:  

• Born to Shirley Ann Latimer and William Doyle, so I had two names at birth;
• Adopted by Thomas and Lillian Griffith, so I grew up "Nancy Griffith";
• Married Robert Russell, so I was "Nancy Russell"; and
• Now am married to Brian Marley-Clarke, so I am now "Nancy Marley-Clarke".

Brian's name goes back generations, when his great-great-grandmother in India, surname "Marley", was widowed with five children.  She subsequently married a barrister named "Clarke" and had another four children, so the family legally changed the names of everyone to "Marley-Clarke".  That's how that moniker evolved.

What's in a name?

So, I've had five names, folks.  When I married Brian, I wondered if I should go back to my maiden name, "Griffith", or take his?  I decided to take his.  Good decision?  I thought it was the only logical one at the time.  But I am sure people thought I was some sort of hyphenated-liberated type, who had kept her maiden name.  No, I was just a working stiff with kids, in bondage like every other working mother.

So, Diana, please just be "Diana Carney".  Forget the "Fox" bit.  It doesn't enhance you.