Calling all Tina Louises

I am the youngest of five children, all of whom have names that begin with the letter "T"--Trudy, Terry, Tammy, Tracy, and Tina (me). With smaller families nowadays, it's not really that unusual to hear of names beginning with the same letter, but it seemed to be almost a miracle as I was growing up. Everywhere we went as a group, we were known as the "5T's," and we always seemed to be a huge disappointment when one of us wasn't there, and with the 18-year spread from oldest to youngest we were more often "incomplete" than not.

The novelty of our names seemed appealing to all but one, my grandfather on my mother's side. He had a terrible stutter, which seemed to worsen as he got older and crankier, especially when he came to live with us for a time.

I was told by my mother they didn't set out to do this, but by the time I came along they were undoubtedly entrenched in the project, and it was my dad's "turn" to pick a name.

As the story goes and after already having had my oldest sister, Trudy, Terry came along, and my parents so loved the name, had he been born female, he also would have been named Terri.

Tammy came along a couple of years after the Debbie Reynolds' song of the same name had reached the top of the Billboard Charts. Whilst in the maternity ward of the hospital for Tammy's arrival, one of my dad's co-workers had also given birth to a daughter named Tracy. My mom said with complete certainty, "That's what we'll name the next one." And so they did.

Convinced she was in the throes of "the change of life," I surprised her and my dad both with my arrival, and as Gilligan's Island was a very popular tv show in my family home, and my dad had a distinct affinity for women with red hair, he named me after his celebrity crush, Tina Louise, who played the character of the movie star, Ginger Grant.

So delighted was I with my chosen name as I grew up that when the show was on tv, I would stand to the side, bat my eyelashes, puff up my hair as Ginger used to do, and purse my lips in a pouty kiss. "Any resemblance?" I'd say in my best attempt at a sultry voice. Nothing but groans from my siblings as my five-year-old self distracted them from watching their show.

Fast forward to my mid-thirties. I was visiting my sister in hospital with my mother, when the shift changed and her new nurse introduced herself as, "Tina." My mom quickly told her, I was named "Tina Louise." She appeared to be about my age, and she relayed that she was, "named Tina Louise after Ginger on Gilligan's Island." Mother squealed in delight as she confirmed the same of me. We casually wondered amongst ourselves how many might be able to tell that exact same story.

Fast forward to my mid-forties when I sought out to do just that. I created a group on Facebook called, "Tina Louises of the World Unite." At one point, we had over 600 members, all with the same etymology.

My mother used to ask each one of us if we liked our names. I dare not speak for the others; however, I say undeniably, I love my name. I love being named after such a beautiful movie star, but most of all, I love that it was my dad's turn to pick. He passed away when I was nine years old, and it was one thing that solidified my connection to him. It's been a fun ride telling this story. After all, this IS where my story begins.