Recap: Talk TueNight: What’s In a Name? [Photos]

Last Tuesday, over 50 people joined us for storytelling and conversation about “Names” — the ones we choose with a purpose and the ones we get by happy accident, the ones that let us know we are loved, and the ones that seem like a bad joke. Held at WeWork Park South, we heard from Penny Wrenn, Siobhan Adcock, Kathleen Warner, Neil Kramer, Naama Bloom, and TueNight’s Margit Detweiler, all read their fabulous posts from that week’s issue. Amy S. Choi and Rebecca Lehrer, co-founders of one of our favorite websites, The Mash-Up Americans, moderated a panel on names, identity and ethnicity with Mash Up contributors Sharda Sekaran and Sy Yang.

Mash Up contributor and panelist Sy Yang let us raffle off one of her unbelievably soft and gorgeous baby blankets, which are good enough for adults, and make great shower gifts.

Here is HelloFlo founder Naama Bloom reading her story about changing her name.

Attendee Dori Fern listens in with a cold brew.

Mashups-Large
(Photo: Neil Kramer/ TueNight)

 Amy S. Choi, Rebecca Lehrer of The Mash-Up Americans and contributors Sy Yang and Sharda Sekrahn had a great discussion about names and ethnic identity.

(Photo: Neil Kramer/ TueNight)

Sharda, whose background is African American and Indian, said that as a young person, she identified more with her African American peers, but that her Indian name gave her away. “I always tried to go incognito, but my name told everything.”

They also asked the crowd to share our “fantasy names.” For those of us with tricky monikers, there’s always another name you’ve considered. (We loved that so much we made a little video feature where you can share your own fantasy name!)

And then Penny Wrenn gave us all chills and made us miss our moms, when she read about her mother calling her Mookie.

Tales-Donate
(Photo: Neil Kramer/ TueNight)

We were all moved by the devastating losses due to the earthquake in Nepal, we decided all proceeds from the evening should go to SaveTheChildren.org. Thanks to all who attended for helping us raise $500 for an important cause.

See you for our next one in June!

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