Entry 33--AKA: "Yes, it really does bother me when you misspell my name."

I suppose some people don't mind, but I'll be the first to admit that I do: I hate when people misspell my name. I can stand it if you mispronounce it; this day and age everyone has a different way of saying everything that the possibilities of pronunciation are nearly endless, plus, I'll always politely correct you. But spelling is another matter entirely: most of the time my name is RIGHT THERE in front of the person writing it down--the room for error is zero to none.

Just for the record:
J-O-L-E-N-E

I think this angst for misspelling stems from my childhood. The only people in my family who have ever consistently spelled my name correctly are my parents and my brother. My parents have no excuse; they gave me my name, entered it on the birth certificate, so of course they are going to get it right. My brother, same deal: he's younger than I am, so his whole life his older sister has been "Jolene." Plus, it's his name with an "l" in the middle and an "ne" on the end--definitely not rocket science here. However no one in my immediately family has ever spelled my name correctly. I have a lifetimes worth of memories involving birthday cards, christmas gifts, and birthday gifts thoughtfully addressed to Joelene, Joleen, Joelean, Jolean, Joelean, Joeleen...the combination of vowel addition/placement is nearly endless. I have to admit, I was always slightly disappointed, as if the sentiment wasn't meant for me, but some bastardized version of me, misspelled out there in oblivion.

I used to think, in my youth, that my name was somehow spectacularly unique; I simply MUST be the only "Jolene" in existence, for how can so many of my nearest and dearest misspell my name with such consistency? It was the only logical conclusion: was was paving the way for the future of all young women to be named "Jolene" and the surprise misspellings only speak to the strange and unique power of my name. Then, as I grew older, I met other Jolenes. It occured to me that perhaps I was not so unique after all. Then the annoyance began...

Jolene is one of the (many) feminized versions of the male form "Joseph" which, of course, is a biblical name (the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus). It is also related (in the forms spelled with an "i" like Joline or Joeleine) to the name Jolie, which is a French name meaing "beautiful." It is not a particularly old name, as it only came into serious usage in the 20th Century, but the popularity has spiked substantially since it was used in Dolly Parton's song "Jolene" in 1974. The song has been covered by a miriad of artists, including The White Stripes, Olivia Newton John, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Natalie Merchant and Keith Urban. The rock band Cake has also released a song titled "Jolene" but it is not a cover of the Dolly parton song, though it retains some of the darker undertones one might link with the song. Parton's song remains one of the top 500 songs according to Rolling Stone.

I hope this short history and explaination of my name will help clear up some of the mysteries surrounding my not-so-unusual name and help people to spell it correctly. I promise if you do, I will never take it forgranted. I'll even let you mispronounce it from time to time, if that will help.