Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog

Never Is the Next New Thing

Say My Name, Say My Name

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When I was a kid, “personalized” shizz was really popular. Personalized keychains, personalized bookmarks, personalized license plates for your bike, personalized shoelaces for your sneakers. It wasn’t personally personalized just for you, of course. You bought the stuff ready-made in the drugstore or Caldor or another place like that. I was always very hurt when there wasn’t a “Wendy” item on the racks. It wasn’t a common enough name to be there consistently.


I wonder what has happened to the personalized tchotchke business, what with people giving their children names like Pilot Inspektor, Moxie CrimeFighter and Erie Lackawanna. (That last one is actually the name of a railway, but I always thought it would make a good baby name.) I wonder if the tchotchke people still think Wendy is so outlandish and rare.

In addition to a dearth of keychains, there aren’t many well-known songs that mention a “Wendy.” (For the last time, “Windy” by the Association doesn’t count!) Jenny gets her name AND phone number in a song title, and I get a tiny mention from Bruce Springsteen? Unfair. Anyway, I think it’s morbidly amusing that a rare Wendy song — “Tomorrow, Wendy” by Concrete Blonde — is one of the most depressing songs in the world. Here it is. I’d say, “Enjoy!” but that might be impossible. How about: “Listen as long as you can bear it but if you feel suicidal, stop immediately.”


There’s no video, just audio.

UPDATED TO ADD: Gorgeous blogger Jennine points out that I left out the super-obvious “Wendy” by the Beach Boys, which I think I tend to block from my consciousness because my name sounds so ridiculous in Beach Boy harmony. But here it is. Consider it the antidote to the Concrete Blonde song.

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Comments

  1. man, I thought that song “Windy” was definitely called “Wendy”. I immediately thought of it because my mom had a Sweatin’ to the Oldies video and “Windy” was featured…my sister and I thought it was a dance video and did the whole “workout” almost everyday! At least your name is associated with a cute cartoon character and not a killer car….

  2. Hi there-I had a name chain that got snapped when I was younger. I can’t recall any songs with my name in it!!

  3. I too had name thing problems – a) my proper name is Katherine and no one did that one not even on crummy bookmarks and then Kate again either there was one person called Kate snapping everything or it never featured either. Basically there use to be loads of Hannahs and Harriets from what I remember.

  4. Try being an Imogen – and I’ve not made it any easier for my kids who are Niamh and Aston.

    Mind you, it’s saved me from a lifetime of tatt – though I knew a woman called Eileen who was always having people sing Come On Eileen at her – I think she got pretty sick of it.

  6. I used to have so much personalised shit when I was a kid. It’s still quite popular here, well, in the little seaside towns full of touristy shops anyway!

  7. There is a great song for my blogger name.”Mais que est la belette”. But the song for my non-bloggy name is so bad that I hope to never hear it again. I think the band who does it is the Cufflinks.

  8. All I’ve got is Shaun Cassidy’s Da Do Ron Ron…sad, isn’t it?

    I picked up the links yesterday at the post office. FANFUCKINGTABULOUS!! I’ll post a pic after the party…thanks so much.

    My word verification is “papprod”…sounds dirty, doesn’t it?!

  9. I hated the song “Claire” when I was little; people used to sing it to me all the time, and I couldn’t stand it. And it was hard to find personalized stuff with my name, too; sometimes, “Claire” was spelled “Clare”, which was no good.

  10. I see the personalized things still around back-to-school time. Wendy is so cheerful, I’m suprised it hasn’t come back in fashion as one of the trendy names. I’d rather have a Wendy than an Apple.

    Same thing with “Lara”. I never got to get any of that stuff either until some relatives came from Europe and brought me stuff! It’s popular there (was named after Lara in Dr. Zhivago… yeah, my parents named me after the other woman). I would’ve been “Sasha” if I was a boy. Not only would I never have anything personalized, I would have my ass kicked every day.

  11. I think personalizing things is really fun! it makes your life a bit more.. hm.. personal.
    Great blog always full of inspiration

  12. Try being a Sheila – possibly the rarest name that everyone knows! However, I do have a few “Sheila” songs: “Little Sheila” by Tommy Roe (from the 50s), “She’s Little Sheila” by Slade (I think), and “Oh, Sheila” by some asstastic 80s band.

    My mom had to special order Sheila stuff for me when I was younger. I remember pencils…really shitty pencils. Ha!

  13. I used to love all those name keychains and pens and stuff when I was a child but I always got so upset as my name was never on any of them.

  14. You think Wendy is bad? Try my name – Jody. There was never anything with my name on it, and one of the most damaging incidences from my youth involved Romper Room. For years, I faithfully watched that show everyday waiting for Miss Jean to say “I see Jody” through her magic mirror. Never happened. I still feel rejected….LOL!

  16. At least you didn’t have “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” sung to you your whole life.
    I guess it was made up by West Side Story. But only slightly.

  17. ^^”Maria, the most beautiful sound I ever heard…” Yes, that’s pretty nice, but the Sound of Music is a problem!

  18. my name is Arabic (and can never find tchochkes abroad) but even the ones at home don’t have my name! Its not TOO strange, but not too common either.

    I hated my parents for giving me my name when I was a kid + teen. Now I think I like it.

  19. Patricia doesn’t get much attention either, unless you count trish the ish, the slutty girl from One Day at a Time, i think. or was there a trish the dish in Happy Days?

  23. haha, my name (my real one that is) was never on a keychain, I always used to check just for the hell of it, but I knew I would never luck out, kind of the running joke. I find my real name often gets used in 1940s musicals as the secretary of the main actor ugg lol, i like your erie lackawanna- i’m waiting for that one now!

  24. This made me think of Romper Room too. I wanted her to say MY name.

    I’m used to not finding it anywhere now.

  25. Oh man! I always wanted pencils that said ‘Isabel” but I had the same problem as you. I guess only ‘Rachel’, ‘Jennifer’ and ‘Megan’ are popular enough names to deserve keychains. Boo hoo.

  26. The Smiths “Sheila Take a Bow” is a good song (For Sheila up there!)

    Me, I had a Ben Folds song named after me. Not named after ME per se, but after my name. I like Ben Folds so therefore, I am a happy camper! (Apparently everyday I wear the same thing and he thinks I smoke pot!)

  27. The Smiths “Sheila Take a Bow” is a good song (For Sheila up there!)

    Me, I had a Ben Folds song named after me. Not named after ME per se, but after my name. I like Ben Folds so therefore, I am a happy camper! (Apparently everyday I wear the same thing and he thinks I smoke pot!)

  29. It seems “Wendy” gets its fair share of mention after all. There is only one song Miss J knows of that mentions her non-pen name. She will not write it here as one’s fake identity must be protected. But the song was sung by Bobby Sherman. Bobby Sherman, for F’s sake.

  30. Hah! I feel ya. Since “Sally” rhymes with “alley,” pretty much all songs with my name in them are about skanky ho-bags.

  31. Try being named Birte… I HAD to buy a personalized keychain when I went to Denmark because it’s actually a common name there!

  32. Oh yes, the Beach Boys’ Wendy is divine. I still love personalised shit even though I’m only a few months shy of 40. Is that wrong? Of course, having a ‘funny’ name, my name is never on those keyrings etc either but I was most excited when I made my Nike I-D trainers (sneakers) and got to have my name monogrammed on them. Kool!

  33. What about Casper the Friendly Ghost’s best friend?

    Personalized items are hard to come by for me too. Not many companies want to emblazon doodads with an nine-letter name which includes a “Z.”

  35. haha people are definitely trying to beat each other with the most ‘unique’ names for kids these days

  36. Haha the only song I can think of that mentions a Lisa is the “Lisa, it’s your birthday!” song Bart sings on The Simpsons.

  37. There is never, ever anything with my name on it, and on the rare occasions that there is, it is always spelled wrong.

    This is sad, because if I could find crap with my name on it I would have it EVERY FREAKING WHERE.

    I’m so shallow.

  38. There are a few songs with my name in them (since it’s a noun as well as a name) but the one that boys used to sing at me in high school was that “Skyrocket in flight, afternoon delight” one about having sex in the afternoon. Great.

    Also nothing personalised for me ever as a kid (except on the Isle of Skye where there was a load of tourist souvenir tat with my name all over it, yay!). Now you can get anything and everything personalised for you, which is how the little Zumas and Bronxs will get their rulers and pencil cases with their names on them.

  39. I can remember seeing a world of personalized garb… and those strange handbags were all the craze… for about a minute!

    lol-xxx

  40. It was hit or miss finding “Caroline” on one of those (usually it was “Carolyn”). But I do have that famous song “Sweet Caroline”–and I like the tune!

  41. I could never find “Francesca” or “Frankie” personalised stuff…only “FRANCES”! Bastards…x

  42. I love personalized things. I found lots of things spelled KristIn though. I really, really always wanted a song with Kristen in it but, I don’t think there is one.

  43. gosh wendy first and foremost that beach boys song made me smile.hehhe.
    also as a kid id trawl all these gift shops,cheap card shops etc for stuff that had Marian on it.Depressingly for me at that time I only ever stumbled on one measly key ring that had my name on it.The closest I would find to my name was Mary.How hard was Marian to print on those mugs,t-shirts etc (my inner pre-teen shouts!):O)?!!!
    so till this day if i happen around any name personalized stuff,I still search for anything with Marian on it.And if you were wondering…there is still nothing with it on! damn the personalized name manufacturere!!
    happy new yr ahead Wendy.
    muah,
    Marian

  44. hahaha i could never find any personalized alexandria or lexie stuff. everything was alexandra or alexis! 🙁

  47. Ahhh I remember once I threw a fit in the Disney store because they didn’t have ANYTHING with my name on it. I was 6, and I think I might have begged my mom to let me change my name to ‘Katie’ or ‘Elizabeth’.

    I still haven’t seen anything with ‘Esther’ on it, to this day. Well, except once at this Christian store that also sold illustrated children’s Bibles and Joel Osteen books. Blech.

  48. I wanted to name my younger daughter Esther. My husband put his foot down. Hard. Then, he comes home to tell me one of his clients had a baby, can we send a gift, and by the way they named the baby Esther.

  49. Yes, but you are a Peter Pan character!

    It’s funny how names come and go. When I was little there were always “Anne” things, rarely “Anna” things, and definitely no “Susanna”‘s. Now I usually see Anna, but not Anne. (Still no Susanna.)

  50. Ahhh that Concrete Blonde album is great…and yes, depressing!!!! Brings back Goth-y memories!!!