Daily prompt: what's in a name

This is brought to you by the WordPress guys, topic #83 (does this mean it was day 83 out of 365? Where is time going??): How did you get your name? Who chose it, and why? (I'm guessing they changed the topic, as the post has another name. If I were to answer that question: I don't like talking, so texting is definitely my answer! ).

barbera wine

So here's my name's story. My mum likes female names ending in "ara" (my sister is called Chiara – other options were Sara, Lara and Mara, which I know is male in India, but in Italy all names ending with 'a' are female except Luca and Andrea). My paternal grandmother was called Maria Barbera, so my dad would have loved to give me her name. But my mum said "Either we write it with an 'a', or we pick another name!". She was right, of course. As it's written, it's the name of a wine, and the guy at the wedding office mispronounced it, which really upset my dad, so he of course agreed to spell my name the more common way.

My grandmother was usually called "Barberina" (little Barbera), so for years the elder of her village of origin in Garfagnana called ME Barberina (she died in 1967, I think, I don't remember her at all). Which is not too bad. The bad is "Barbera" (with an accent on the first 'a'), as everywhere else in Italy (and the world?) it's read as barbera (with an accent on the 'e') which is a brand of wine…

So, that's how I ended up being called Barbara. Not on my birth certificate, but I have 4 names, Barbara Maria Elena Adele – Maria because it's the mother of Jesus, Elena the maternal grandmother, Adele the godmother and my father's only sister.

When I was younger I wanted a more princely name, such as Elisabetta or Isabella (Elizabeth and Isabel), but when I became The Warrior Woman (in the 1990s), I started to enjoy being called Barbara. I said I was "barbarian by name and in the facts"! It's a Latin word for "foreign woman", in case you were wondering. I know it's widely spread throughout the world, but it originated in Italy – ancient Rome (is that why I still don't like ancient Romans? I wonder… I probably WAS a foreigner of Celtic origins back then. Maybe my story is the one told by my friend Anna Lowenstein in the Stone City! ).

Usually we shorten it to the first syllabe (Ba') but in the new millennium I'm also known as Barb, tradition started by my American friends and soon picked up by some male Italian friends as well… when they're not calling me "Ba'!" of course, which sounds a lot like "Bah", but whatever… As long as it's not Barbie, like the Barbie doll, because my beloved sister used to tease me with that one, so I won't answer!