I never really liked my name. “Joanna” always just felt dated, and I hated how choppy the syllables were. I hated its affiliation to a certain fabric and craft store, making me feel about twenty years older. For the longest time, I was jealous of my sister’s prettier, flowier name “Sarah”, and I even lied to my kindergarten class, telling them that my real name was actually “Lily”. Even though it was not my choice the six letters of my name and its three syllables hold the essence of who I am and convey the person I have become. However, it was the shorter versions of my name that truly carry the story of my life, marked by the people who have taught me the lessons that make me the person I am today.
For as long as I could remember, I’ve been called nicknames by my family. “Jojo” was the very first one, and in every home family video, there is a smiling, crawling Jojo. Not Joanna; strictly Jojo. I was around five when I realized that the nickname meant that I was Jojo Cho, and a change was needed. So, to this day, the only people that call me that name are my family, but when they do it, I don’t mind. It brings back memories of running through my grandparents’ old dry cleaning store, them calling for me in
their heavy Korean accents so I could help make hangers, making my name sound more like “Cho-do”. It reminds me of the way they would teach me to phonetically write my name in Korean, the way my dad would tuck me in at night after work, or playing hide-and-seek with my siblings. So, in a way, Jojo is the very first version of me She was the young girl who learned what love was, and the importance of family. She is the girl with short hair and awful bangs who learned what hard work and selflessness was from the examples of her family, and what it means to sacrifice and to have ambition.
This is a picture of me and Naomi (she’s wearing the top hat!)
For the latter part of my life,“Jo” was the appropriate nickname. Short and easy- it’s what all of my friends and family-friends call me. Most people still use the abbreviation today, and it is what I respondto on a daily basis. It marked a new era of my life, one that was dominated by friends, school, and laughter. As much as my family has formed me into the person I am today, the friends that I have made along the way are also fundamental parts of me. The nickname first originated sometime in elementary school, when my friend Naomi decided that “Jo” suited me much better. We went to church together, so naturally, everybody at church began to call me Jo. These were the people I really grew up with and experienced life with- the slew of my church friends that I’ve known ever since I was a toddler. Together, we read books, went trick-or-treating, organized secret santas, celebrated birthdays, saw movies, went to each other’s band/
orchestra concerts, went to prom, celebrated graduations, and waved goodbye as college finally separated us. The people who call me Jo are the first people I drove when I got my license and the first I call in crises. They have seen me through my highest and lowest moments, and are the ones who taught me that friendship means sticking with your people through the thick and thin, no matter what life throws at you.
It’s oddly categorical, how I organize the people in my life according to what they call me. Anybody who calls me Jojo is my family, Jo is for my friends, and Joanna is a formality reserved for everybody else. All in all, my name isn’t my favorite thing and it probably never will be. But, I’ve grown to appreciate the life it’s led me through so far, all the people I’ve met and all the lessons I have learned. These shorter versions of my name represent people who have taught me to love and persevere, synonymous with family dinners and late night drives. They are all people who form the person I am today, and the nickname they call me signifies the stake they have in my life. So, though my name is not what I would have chosen for myself, each era in my life is marked by a different nickname, making me who I am today, which is something that I love and would never change.
Joanna,
I loved reading this post as it is something that I can relate to. As you may know, my name is Alison but many people call me Ali. This was a nickname given to me by my parents and was really the only thing I went by for the entirety of my childhood. This was a name that even my teachers called me. Going off of the notion that middle school is still part of your childhood, I was still called Ali during that time, especially by my teachers. This carried on into my freshman year. I found that when introducing myself to new people, I was still going by Ali. This then resulted in teachers calling me Ali too. At that point, this began to feel a little personal. I don’t know if it is just me but when teachers call me by a nickname that I did not give them permission to call me by, meaning I didn’t introduce myself as that name, then I feel as if it is overstepping boundaries just a tiny bit. Anyways, it was not until the pandemic that I went through some major emotional and mental development in my personal awareness and decided to have teachers call me Alison. Although, now new prospective friends have begun calling me that I just don’t know if I truly enjoy it. Sometimes I miss the old nickname. Do you feel a similar way about yours?
Hi Jo! I feel honored to be mentioned in your blog as I believe I am one of the first people you ever drove after receiving your license. Reading this blog was truly eye-opening for me. Although I have always known your name was Joanna, it was something I never used to refer to you. It just felt natural to say Jol, I had never really given it a second thought. I feel like I can relate to this blog in some ways. I have never liked my name, especially the fact that it can also be a boy’s name, but I hate my nickname even more. Jordy is something my family has always called me and it makes me feel young and less than. I guess because of this I have just learned to live with my given name. With that being said, I am glad to hear that you have learned to love your name. Just know when it is used it’s almost like a term of endearment, especially when people are talking about you! Overall you did a wonderful job on this blog. I love how honest and open you are in every one of your posts. Your readers are really getting to know you and your raw emotion.
Hey Joanna, I love that you mention your childhood with your grandparents and family and how they would call you Jojo for short. Growing up, I also had a nickname that all of my family members would call me, and similarly to you, being called by that nickname now brings back almost some sense of nostalgia for when I was younger. I get what you mean in terms of having a nickname to be called by on the daily by friends, and it’s heartwarming how you take that nickname and relate it to all of the wonderful companions you’ve made growing up. For me, I love being called Jess. For some reason, it feels different than just being called Jessica especially because I feel like my full name is reserved for people that I might not be as close to, so Jess reminds me of all of the people I grew to be friends with like you said. I also adore the picture you have with Naomi; the top hat is a very wonderful fashion statement. Your conclusion of now being able to appreciate the life that your name has led you to live is truly inspiring, and I’m glad that you have grown to love it.