It could be a family member, a friend or acquaintance, an influencer in life, a nemesis, a famous person or it could just conjur up an image on a word association with that name.
One such Name that resonates in my memory is Freda or the alternative spellings, Frieda and Frida amongst many other variations.
It is an old one, for sure, with a distant origin in the mists of Scandinavia and Northern Europe and yet perhaps the most famous Frida, the artist Frida Kahlo was Mexican. It derives from translations of beautiful beloved or noble woman and suggests a strong and independent minded person which are attributes to be valued.
I was reminded of the name just a few days ago.
I was standing in the back garden of a terraced house not far from where I live in the inner-city having a chat with the elderly homeowners and casting my eye over a well tended plot of lawn and flower beds.
There in the shade of the boundary wall was a small plaque inscribed with the name Frieda.
It was nothing formal. Far from it. The thing was just stood there in the grass on its stick-mount. I have seen similar things before, many a time, in borders and rockery areas in private gardens as they usually serve as a memorial to a beloved pet that has passed away. For those of a nervous disposition I do not mean that the animal is physically interned beneath such a memorial but rather it is in a place in which former owners can recollect fondly about the time shared in the company of a dog, cat, hamster, rat, gerbil, budgerigar, goldfish and any other multitude of domesticated or household creatures.
Having been a child that grew up in the 1960's my immediate association with the name Frieda is of a tortoise.
I sense a few of you nodding in agreement on this especially if you were a devotee of the BBC programme, Blue Peter.
That tortoise which featured from 1963 to 1979 was not the most engaging or socially skilled of the entourage of animals on the show was nevertheless very popular. For a few years it had been called Fred before the embarrassing discovery and much awkwardness amongst the Presenters when it turned out that it was female.
The gender correctly named Frieda was best known for one main event in the calendar. That was her placing in a cardboard box, amongst suitable bedding and insulation in preparation for the winter hibernation. It was a "not to miss" TV moment and heralded in our young minds the beginning of the shorter days, those walks to and from school in fading light but more importantly served as the catalyst for that excited feeling that comes with the approach of the Festive Season.
Of course it was at one time, in its different forms, quite a popular name for a girl and featured consistently in the rankings in the Northern Hemisphere.
According to official census figures for the United States and within the Office of National Statistics in the United Kingdom it ranked, at its peak, at around 151st most popular. That was in 1893. There was only a small fluctuation, up and down again during the last decade of the 19th Century but from 1900 the trend was one way only, in decline.
By the Millenium the name Frieda was in obscurity with a ranking of #7360. Remarkably but very much true to of the resurgence of what we would regard as old fashioned names Frieda has managed to attain a place in the top 700 table in more recent years. In Norway it is in the top 20.
On that hot, humid day in that back garden and looking at that memorial plaque I could only visualise Frieda as a tortoise.
What else could I deduce from my personal experience?
The homeowner, seeing my fleeting interest in the small monument remarked "Ah, that's our Frieda".
Perhaps the heat and understandable late afternoon fatigue on my part caused me to enquire about the tortoise.
"That's no tortoise" came the reply from the old lady "That's my sister".
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