A Name For My New Bike

“Let’s all do it,” said Mr. Watts. “Close your eyes and silently recite your name.”

The sound of my name took me to a place deep inside my head. I already knew that words could take you into a new world, but I didn’t know that on the strength of one word spoken for my ears only I would find myself in a room that no one else knew about.

“Another thing,” Mr. Watts said. “No one in the history of your short lives has used the same voice as you with which to say your name. This is yours. Your special gift that no one can ever take from you.”

― Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip

I'm tickled to announce that my new bike and I have chosen her name.  Thanks for all of your funny and lovely suggestions.  I've had a blast trying them on my bike.  Here are all the suggestions including some last minute additions from yesterday and today.

1. Sydney Bristow.  This one came from my husband who knows I loved the show Alias and that Jennifer Garner, who played super spy Sydney Bristow on Alias, also played the movie character Electra.  Electra is the brand of my new bike.  The Hubs is one clever guy.  The reason I didn't choose this one is because had I named her Sydney Bristow, I would have felt pressure to always be saving the world whilst wearing awesome spy costumes.  Writing this, I realize I may have made a grievous mistake in NOT choosing that name.


2. Trudy. It just didn't fit.


3. Sheila.  Another one that wasn't right.


4. Pearl. This one was a favorite with many of you and also one of my favorites since the color of my bike is White Pearl.  What you may not know is that my car is named The Black Pearl, which has nothing to do with pirate ships and everything to do with the fact that her paint color is Black Pearl.  I call my car The Pearl for short, so if I'd named my new bike Pearl, it would have been WAY too confusing for this bear of little brain.


5. Rita. I once had a curmugeonly teacher named Rita.  I'm pretty sure she didn't like kids, not even her own.  So that name never stood a chance.


6. Alice. This one reminded me of Alice from The Brady Bunch.  I spent many happy afternoons watching Alice and her hijinks with Brady kids.  However, I get called Alice ALL THE TIME because 'Alicia' is confounding to scads of people, so no dice for Alice.


7. Cloud 9.  If my bike had 9 gears instead of 8, this might have been her name.  It is a perfect bicycle name, but it just wasn't right for my bike.  I hope some cyclist out there snatches this name up and gives it a good bicycle to claim.


8. Baby.  My sister suggested this one because of that line from Dirty Dancing.  You know the one.  "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."  Well, The Hubs insists that he puts Baby in a corner.  In fact, my Dirty Dancing DVD doesn't live with the other DVDs.  It lives on the floor in a corner of the living room because every time I try to put it away, The Hubs puts it back in the corner, further proof that we are just masquerading as adults.  While I love this little game The Hubs and I play, last year I had a student who sang the chorus of Justin Bieber's 'Baby' over and over and over and over and over and over EVERY SINGLE DAY.  It was the worst earworm ever and I couldn't risk getting that song stuck in my head each time my bike and I had a conversation.


9. Chatty Cathy.  I liked the irony of this one being that my new bike has been quite tight-lipped and on the shy side.  In the end Chatty Cathy wasn't the right fit.


10. Bianca.  My first ten speed was a Bianchi named Bianca.  So that name was already taken by a bike I loved.


11. Samantha.  This one came from my hilarious and obviously humble friend, Samantha.  Samantha is a smart, sassy redhead.  Samantha is the ideal name for a cherry red bike.


12. Bi-psyike-oh.  I refer back to being routinely beaten in Words With Friends.  I need a bike name I can spell within the first ten tries.  Is it bi?  Or by?  Psy?  Or psych?  Oh?  Or oe?  And shoot, where do those hyphens go again?  This name foretold an overworked delete key and a spelling induced tantrum.


13. Sally.  As in "Ride, Sally, ride." according to my friend, Becky.  Sally is another good bike name, but when I tried it out on my bike, she didn't answer to it.


14. Magnolia or Maggie for short.  My bike whispered this name in my friend Julie’s ear while Julie was reading.  Julie says, “Magnolias are beautiful as white as a blossom and yet strong and sturdy as a tree.”  Trees have special meanings for Julie and I so this suggestion made me tear up.  I loved every bit of this name from the get go.  I loved the meaning.  I loved the nickname.  I loved that my shy bike whispered it to my friend.  I was set to name her Magnolia until another friend suggested Truly.


15. Truly.  This suggestion and ridiculously cheerful video came from my dear friend, Jenna.  Truly is a fantastic bike name!  I loved it not only for the sugary Chitty Chitty Bang Bang song, but for the double meaning.  What my non-cycling friends might not know is that bike wheels have to be "trued", meaning made to ride straight and without wavering.  How's that for a reminder on how to live life?  The other reason I fell in love with this name is because my own name means "filled with the truth."

So there I was stuck between Magnolia and Truly.

I tried out both names on my bike and wouldn't you know it, she told me liked them each just as much as I did.  Though we'd narrowed it down to two, we had our work cut out for us.

On our ride to school this morning, I tried out Magnolia Truly.  Then Truly Magnolia.  Then Maggie Truly.  Then Truly Maggie.  None of them were quite right.  Not quite yet.

As we cruised down the hill with the chill of morning, flushing our cheeks I said, "You're a great bike, Magnolia True."

That was it.

A beautiful name for my beautiful bike.

Magnolia True.

I smile every time I say it.

Thanks for all of your suggestions.  I hope you'll get a chance to meet Magnolia True in person someday soon.  When you do, she says you can call her Maggie True for short.

Magnolia Stellata by Jens Luedicke. Image courtesy of fotopedia.com.