![A[1][1]](https://annestenhousenovelist.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/a11.jpg)
Continuing the A – Z challenge, I cannot go past B without mentioning my lovely BELLA.
Chances are, dear reader, you may want to argue and say she should appear on the 9th, under I for Isabella, but I’ve never known her as that. Bella is the first of what will probably be several ‘pet names’. You like them or you don’t. I think many parents go to some lengths to choose a name that cannot be shortened. Pity them as the playground usually finds something worse like ‘carrots’ or ‘fatty’.
Isabella seems to derive from Isabel which may in turn come from Elizabeth and so be of Hebrew derivation. Its meaning is bound up with a promise or vow of God.
Have you a pet name? Did your parents register a long-winded family name that they had already shortened and never used?
Fancy a free copy of Bella’s Betrothal for your e-reader over Easter? Nip across to The Story Teller Alley and sign up for their newsletter to be in with a chance as Bella’s Betrothal is today’s giveaway.
Novels Now 
I like both versions – Bella and Isabella. My name was shortened by all the males on my dad’s side but kept at its proper length by everyone on my mom’s. Go figure.
Jessica
2015 A to Z Blogger
Visions of Other Worlds
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Hi Jessica, I do think it’s interesting the way families joined in marriage keep their identities. This is a really good example of that sort of thing. Anne
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I believe my name, Lisa, also derives from Elizabeth. It ended up shortened to Li sometimes in elementary school because there were 4 Lisas in my homeroom. (2 had the same middle name. 1 had the same last name initial.)
Greetings from A to Z!
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Hullo Li, Yes, names are so difficult when it comes to wanting something distinctive. My name is Anne – always another in my class/year group/office, but and curiously, not in the family after my Godmother died. Hope it’s due for a revival. Good luck with the challenge, Anne
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Yes, it’s strange the lengths some people will go to choose a name that cannot be shortened, and the lengths others will go to shorten a name.
When I was in college, I had two friends whose already shortened names, Jen for Jennifer, and Ru for Ruth, were further shortened to J and R. Another friend, Muriel whose name was shortened to Mu. Yet no-one shortened my longish name, Christine, at all!
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Jargon allows for rapid understanding, but a spin-off is the creation of a group of people in the know. I think nicknames are the social equivalent of jargon. perhaps that’s why we’re never satisfied with people’s given names but have to personalise them. I think it’s good you’re Christine. I have used the muddle created by Chris/Pat/Sam etc in fiction, but in real life it’s a bit of a nuisance. Anne
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