Fun with My Name

Before I published my first novel, Brute Heart, I asked several writer friends whether I should use my given name (Virginia) or the name friends and family called me. One author I respected opted for Virginia, referencing Virginia Woolf, however I didn't feel comfortable even having my name mentioned in the same breath as that noted author. In the end, I copyrighted the novel as Virginia Dehlinger and put Ginger Dehlinger on the cover. I've used Ginger on everything I've written since.

In fact, I have taken advantage of my name, most notably by dying my hair red. Now, when I meet people, they often say "I won't have any trouble remembering your name."

I take advantage of the name Ginger by offering gingersnaps as a gift with purchase when I sell books at street fairs or Christmas bazaars. My sign reads: "Spend $10.00 and get a sample of Ginger's homemade ginger snaps."

At Christmas bazaars, I display this gingerbread man reminder of how many shopping days are left. 

People give me items that include my name. My designer friends Lee and Sheila Stewart gave me this label which I've had pinned to my pin cushion for at least 40 years.

On impulse, I often I buy things that use Ginger or gingerbread men in some way. I bought this mini tea set at a Christmas bazaar this year. I loved it so much I made it the centerpiece on my dining room table.

I wrote a poem about my name that appeared in the anthology: Family, Vol. 2 published by The Poet (summer 2022). I am including the poem below, and that is enough said about my name.

In the Shadow of a Namesake

My father named me,
not Elsie after my mother
or Anna after his
but a name without a nest
in either family tree.

‘We’ll name her Virginia’
he said the day we met,
‘but call her Ginger.’
(another treeless name)
Mom, still under Daddy’s spell,
let it be his call.

I never asked my father,
stern and otherwise detached,
why he christened me so readily.
We never talked much, anyway.
Mom just shrugged;
said she couldn’t remember.

I answered to Ginger
long before I learned—

Ginny is a more common derivative,
British gingers have red hair,
the spicy alias is favored by
strippers, courtesans, filles de joie
(pure irony for vestal Virginia).

Ginger Rogers was a Virginia.
She and Fred were the cat’s meow
when I was born.
Mystery solved, I thought,
until I remembered…
Daddy’s favorite star was Barbara Stanwyck.

Who, then, was the other Virginia?