Until 1997 I had lived with my given name, Vicki. It’s not short for Victoria and my folks and I always spelled it exactly that way, V-i-c-k-i.
In 1997, I needed a passport. So, I collected all the necessary documents and my husband, Bill, and I drove into San Antonio to the passport office.
Handing everything over to the young woman sitting behind her desk, I waited while she looked the papers over.
After examining everything, she looked up at me and said there was a discrepancy. I had written my name as I usually did but my birth certificate spelled my given name V-i-c-k-i-e. I was stunned. I had looked at that certificate many times and had never noticed that difference before.
The young woman said it wasn’t a problem, I could use any spelling I chose, except the passport information must match the birth certificate exactly. So, I got my passport, with the “ie” spelling.
Traveling internationally presented no problems because I had to use my passport to get on a plane. But I had to show my driver’s license everywhere else, including domestic flights. My driver’s license uses only the “i.”
My bank accounts have always used the “i” spelling and my credits cards also use that spelling. I’ve had all those accounts for many years.
I considered changing the spelling on my driver’s license but was told that would require a legal name change from a court. I wasn’t about to go to that time and expense.
Much later, after the infamous 9/11/2001 attacks, the airlines came up with the rule that boarding passes must match the name, including the spelling, on the passenger’s identification. I had frequent flyer miles from my international travel, which all read “ie.” So, I could no longer use my driver’s license to fly domestically. I was forced to use my passport to fly anywhere and use my driver’s license to drive and access my accounts.
When Bill and I decided to update our wills, I explained the situation to our lawyer. He said the best solution was to use both spellings, as in ‘Vicki George, alias Vickie George.’
Yikes! I now have an alias. I had never considered that before.
I couldn’t help but wonder how all this happened. I have seen my original birth certificate, which uses the spelling my adoptive parents wanted, “Vicki.” But my amended birth certificate uses the spelling “Vickie.” Obviously, the clerk who typed the amended certificate just didn’t pay attention and spelled my name her way. The amended certificate is the only legal one.
Then I remembered an incident from the third grade. Our teacher wrote all the students names on the blackboard. When she wrote my name, she spelled it Vickie. I spoke up and told her she was wrong, that there was no “e” at the end. She argued with me that there was an “e.” I argued back that there wasn’t. She ended up relenting and letting me have my way. I now realize that to register me for school, my folks had to show my birth certificate and that’s what the school had. Since my folks didn’t intend the “e” no one in my family ever used it. So, neither did I.
Misspelling my name used to bother me. Since discovering I actually have two different spellings that I must use for different situations, I have given up and I don’t let it bother me anymore when others spell my name their ways. Many end the name in a “y” and a few have used “Viki” and some even spell it “Vickey.”
Shakespeare wrote, “That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.” I’ll just think of myself as a sweet smelling rose.
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