Gen X Jennifer, March 2nd

When I was born, the most popular girl’s name was Jennifer. (The most popular boy’s name was Michael and not Brad, but I’ll get to that later.) In summer camp when I was 11 there were two other Jennifers in my bunk… out of eight girls! You learn to live with a little confusion and some built in competition. When your name is called the first thing you ask is, “Which one?” You go by Jen, Jenn, Jenjen, Jenny or rely solely on your last name. In my sorority another Jen and I went by Jen Squared since we were often seen together. It seemed more efficient at the time. And as an adult if you drop the whole formality of using your full name, you have to decide if you’re a Jen or a Jenn. I think the point of a nickname is to keep it short so I’m Jen, single n. And it does irk me when people double my n when I clearly sign all correspondence Jen. One n is so much more slimming, don’t you think? No offense to you slender doubles by the way; personal choice.

As a Gen X Jennifer I find that I don’t always get along with other Jennifers. They aren’t like Sarahs or Kims. I always seem to like any girl with those names. Jennifers can be curt or standoffish (Lopez) or self absorbed or downright rude! Maybe it’s because Jens have all dealt with way too many of our kind in our lifetimes already? I don’t really know. Maybe the pissed off Jennifers (present company excluded) have been compared unfairly to Anistons and Lawrences and Garners or Connellys, Hudsons, Morrisons, or Love Hewitts and some of them are tired of it all? This mystery remains unsolved for now.

But Marks and Marcs I adore! I have so many close friends named Marc/k it’s almost a joke. There is Paris Mark, Marc Long Island, Marc C from Jersey, Marc the decorator and more than a handful of industry colleagues that spell their name either way. The minute I meet another Marc/k I know we will more than likely hit it off.

I have a friend who married a Lisa and later divorced her. In his defense she was pretty awful. Later he met another Lisa and married her too! Big mistake. (I did try to talk him out of it.) He couldn’t bear the name and ended up calling her L2. Bad idea. Needless to say they divorced not long after the wedding. I kid you not when I tell you that the man is now in his 60s and he has settled down with a lovely gal named Lisa and seems blissfully happy despite her being a Lisa. Go figure.

In my dating life, I had an early run on the As with Andy, Alex and Anthony before the serious Bs kicked in. The name Brad sort of found me. I dated my first Brad when I was in my 20s. We used to work together and it was a frowned upon office romance! It ended with a flurry of drama and I left the company with Brad in my rearview mirror. Soon thereafter I met a new Brad that I married and yes, that ended in divorce. I went on to date another Brad (the trifecta!) who I thought was fancy and fabulous, but it was not meant to be longterm and we split after a few tumultuous years. At this point in my life I debated calling my first novel Three Brad Minimum. Maybe Three Brad Maximum would have been a better title? None of them remotely resembled the pics below but what a cover!

Regardless, I had a boss named Brad and you guess it… he loved me, but I ended up hating him! I dated another Brad (I swear) and I called him Revenge Brad thinking he was to be the best Brad ever, making up for all the prior bad Brads… but it turned into a passing fling. Maybe it was too much pressure? I reported to a final corporate Brad and we did not gel at all which I took as a sign. Just when I thought I had retired the jersey permanently, I selected a financial advisor with the name Brad, and he remains the only Brad in my life. At this point I intend to keep it that way for my own protection and piece of mind.