The rules of phonics were pounded into our heads from the start of Kindergarten. Sound-it-out. Find the vowels, short or long?, blend with the consonants, syllable by syllable, beware the silent e… We learned this as soon as we mastered the Alphabet Song.
These same teachers who preached the Phonics Game couldn’t follow their own simple rules when it came to pronouncing my name.
As a kid, I was quiet and shy and preferred to live beneath a cloak of invisibility. My name made this impossible. On the first day of school, when the teacher came to my name on her seating chart, she stared blankly, trying to twist her tongue into the proper shape to summon the correct sound. Seconds ticked by feeling more like slow motion minutes while kids turned and stared, knowing my name would soon be butchered. This was cause for rip-roaring laughter. This was the Phonics Game in action. Everyone knew my name was next, she had already perfectly pronounced Timmy Stone. I always came after Timmy Stone and before Clay Wade.
School was predictable. Life was predictable. Everything was predictable other than my name.
I wanted to scream, “Just sau̇nd ət au̇t!”
I can blame Daddy for my odd name. He was a farmer and a man of few words who chose the occasion of my birth to become involved in such girl related things.
In 1962, living in the Mississippi delta surrounded by farmland, he came up with the strangest name ever to be given a baby girl born in the Osceola Memorial Hospital. Back when the top five girl names were Lisa, Marie, Susan, Karen, Linda I got Talya.
I was kər-səd!
Regardless, I think beer drinking was involved.
As I’ve become acquainted with more writers, I’ve met many who have changed their names to something more unique, a name more reflective of their personalities. With my name, Daddy gave me permission to be different from Day One. It just took me a while to figure it out, to sound it out.
He’s been gone eighteen years, but I still have his copy of South Pacific. The pages are yellowed and brittle and smell of a different life. Someday soon, I shall read it.
talya
Talya is a small village in the Holalkere taluk near Chitradurga district, Karnataka State, India.
The name Talya is a Hebrew baby name. In Hebrew the meaning of the name Talya is:Dew of heaven.
The baby girl name Talya comes from the Indian word which means, “Reach bearer.”
Means Born at Christmas. From the Russian name Natalya.
I would be willing to bet that your dad never read South Pacific. I read and wrote every book report he ever made. Sorry Mrs. Polk. We do need to read it. B
interesting. Lies! all Lies!
You had to have his initials, as did Staci. theBAT
Dads always know right!! 😉
I love your name and you should be proud of it no matter how it came about! My name is misspelled all of the time but I just ignore it and you should hear the way our last name gets mutilated! Sound it out!
I absolutely love your name…you are special,beautiful,sweet,kind and a great writer,,,you are not plain and simple,,,you are adventurous,animated,mysterious,,,all those great things, and your daddy knew you would go farther that you knew you could go,,,,wow,,I am so proud of you,,,stand tall,stand firm that quiet little Arkansas farm girl,,,love you,gail
Thank you Linda:))) xo
You do have a great name. I always was fascinated by it. I do know how it felt in school though. But many younger women and girls have my name now. I meet more and more of them everyday. At least yours is still unique! 🙂
In the last few years I’ve heard of people with my name although they usually spell it Talia or Thalia. Strangely enough, the female character in the new Batman movie is Thalia Tate….seriously.
I love the meanings of Talya. Dew of Heaven — how dear! Thanks for sharing your memories of your dad.
I always thought Russian lineage since you were so tall!! Still good name though!
Talya means Dew of Heaven, and Lea means Meadow. Beautiful.
I love the small details in your writing. I also can relate. I named my son Mikalh. It’s my husband’s fault. “MEE-koll!” he yells at people. “Like ‘me call you on the phone!'” Mostly because of this, I homeschool him. Great piece.
Thank you! Tell Mee-koll to be glad he has an easy last name. My married name is Boerner pronounced Burner. Without fail, sitting in a large group waiting to hear my name called (jury duty, etc), it’s always pronounced over the loudspeaker Bo-ner. Nice.
I got my first name (Gary) because my mother was a teacher and never had a student named Gary. Also, my father hated his middle name, so he said, “No Roman numerals or Juniors!”
I enjoy hearing about how people got their names. 🙂
Talya, to be perfectly honest, I’ve always thought you had an awesomely cool name. For a long time, you were the only ‘Talya’ I knew until the movie “Rocky” came out, and I discovered the leading lady’s real name was Talia Shire. Though her name is pronounced the same as your name, it wasn’t spelled correctly, like yours.=) I also enjoyed reading the different meanings of your name, and the Hebrew and Russian ones are my favorites. I’m not sure what a ‘reach bearer’ is in the Indian translation, but it’s got be something awesomely cool!=)
I loved your Daddy……