What's in a name?
So, this name...

Back in the mid-nineties I developed a very mild fascination with the Morrigan, as at the time I was trying to learn more about Celtic deities. In the midst of this I suddenly felt I somewhat identified with Macha, don't ask me why. I'm weird, and I go through weirdnesses like Madonna goes through style changes. Anyway, with Macha--and the Morrigan generally--comes the crows or ravens.

Oh, yeah. Not long before that I'd been entertaining the fantasy of someday having a daughter with black hair and naming her Raven. About that time I entered into correspondence, via a free Pagan penpal newsletter, with a rather eloquent prisoner-type dude. That lasted until (1) I met the man who would shortly become my husband--don't ask--and (2) I got a letter from Prisoner Dude that mentioned his fantasy of someday having a daughter with black hair and naming her Raven. I had probably mentioned my own thoughts about said dark-haired girl but I sure hadn't mention the name I had picked out. Spook-a-rilla. Buh-bye.

(Yes, I know: how sad is it that it took this to spook me and not merely hearing from a guy in prison? Y'know, if I could tell you that, I'd probably uncover the key to my own weirdness. What fun is that?)

More recently, with GirlRaven on the way, her dad and I toyed with the Raven thing. Not in English, because that name's a dime a dozen in the Pagan community... but maybe something Celtic? We thought about Brenna for a girl, Brendan for a boy, but he didn't like the diminutive (it means "little raven"). We settled on a family name instead, at least for the prospective girl, which as it turns out is what we got.

Even more recently I was feeling the need for a relative level of privacy with my LJ without going friends-only, and at first I wanted to be all high-falutin' with "ravenpriestess" or something along those lines, because I still like ravens. It doesn't help that in a conversation about totem animals (I was more than a bit envious that GirlDaddy found his so easily), GirlDaddy informed me that he thought I might be some kind of bird but he couldn't sort out what it was. Remembering that, everything kind of clicked.

Also, ravenpriestess is already taken, dammit.

The surname? I used to belong to a church which had as one of its priests a man with the assumed surname of Stormcrow. He left long ago, and the church has imploded since, and I'm not sure whether I would like him overly much were I to meet him in person*, but the name sounded cool and I was running out of ideas and I don't use this as a public Pagan name anyhow. So... There you go.

And then--get this--I was lying awake the other night waiting to fall asleep and I suddenly remembered another Raven, a lady I used to know on an email list. She wound up dating XeyedX, GirlDaddy's most recent ex-wife, and then dumping her. Then XeyedX and I got into it** for four years straight, and now she's gone, and all of a sudden I am taking a name that is rather very close to... Raven Stormbringer.

Of course, by the time I had remembered this I'd already set up the LJ account and written in it.

Whoopsie. *chuckle*

No, seriously, I didn't do it on purpose. But the thing's done, and barring an influx of Stupid People I will probably hang on to this one until I leave LJ forever. Which probably will not happen anytime soon, but if I get the chance to substitute something better for this place, oh yeah, I'm going. Meanwhile, it's taken me so long to come up with something even remotely resembling a public Pagan name that I'm kind of revelling in this one. So I'm'a keep it for a while and see if it grows on me.

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*We were not all in one geographical location, which in my opinion was one of our more serious and destructive problems. Kids, if you're gonna start a Pagan church, emulate those who have been successful at starting churches and stay in one place until you gain critical mass and can send out missionaries. Sound familiar? It works. Do it. The Internet is no place for church development. I hope I don't need to explain why, unless you're a newbie who's only been online five minutes.

**Not in a dating sense, although she wanted that in the beginning. And she'd tell you now that when I didn't fall all over her fast enough for her taste she completely lost interest in me, but that really didn't explain her behavior afterward. We're all adults here, it's not normal to just turn one's feelings off, yadda yadda yadda, but it would fall on deaf ears, so whatever.