Possibly How I Got My Name?

"Bee to the blossom; moth to the flame; each to his passion; what's in a name?"
(Helen Hunt Jackson)

"It's the birthday of Helen Hunt Jackson, born in Amherst, Massachusetts (1830), where she went to school with Emily Dickinson. She had a steady career as a ladies' author, but when she heard Chief Standing Bear of the Poncas give a speech about the destruction of his people, she became an activist overnight. She wrote a novel called Ramona (1884) about a mixed-race Spanish woman and her Native American lover, based on stories told to her by Mission Indians she had interviewed. It was a great success, but not in the way Jackson had intended. People who read the book didn't care much about the Indian characters; they were attracted to the rich Spaniards, and they eagerly attached Ramona's name to the boulevards and opera houses in their new communities. California is still full of things named "Ramona."

The above is from today's The Writer's Almanac; a reminder for me about where my name possibly came from.

Was I named Ramona because of her book?
(Cover of book published in 1884 - just one of the many book covers over the years.)

Not according to my mother, who chose my name. She said I was named "after one of Dad's old girlfriends".
(Though couldn't that woman have been so named due to the popularity of the book?)

True or not, I didn't like my name when I was young. But as I got older, I was glad I had such a romantic name - and very glad that Mom would not let it be shortened to Mona.