Names

I had an aunt named Bertha Missouri Clutter. Now that is a name. As soon as she was old enough, she changed her middle name to May, which is a perfectly fine name and goes well with another old-fashioned moniker, Birdie. Birdie May can be paired with Lady Bird for some very flighty twins, but those names don't have the visual impact of an Ima Hog or the lyrical quality of a Dusty Rhodes or a Misti Rivers.

As a fiction writer, I'm always searching for unusual and memorable names that will serve my characters well. And since I use southern settings, the quirkier the better. I've had a Declan, a Deacon, a Dante and a Darnell. A Doatsie, a Dessie, a Drusie and a Dyantha. Arlette, Arnett, Anette, and Angelette. Billy Bob, Bobby Ray, Ray Dean, Ralene, Racine, and Ray Ann.

If my aunt had been born a few decades later, who knows? Bertha Missouri might have been as acceptable as Hannah Montana.