the ridiculousness of having a boy name..

so you all know my name is Tyler.

my full name is in fact Alyson Tyler Wanda Faye Fraser. (i know i know, im pretty much set for a career in country music...)

5 names? yes, it's a family thing. all of my siblings have been cursed with it as well. and my children will have an absurd amount of names so people can ask them the same questions i've been bothered with my whole life :)

oh and last but not least, the fact that i don't go by my first name, alyson.

people always ask me why, and i'm like, "well, back in the day when I was around a month old, i just couldn’t take being called alyson anymore! so i asked everyone to start calling me Tyler instead."

HELLO! no one chooses their name for themselves. (unless they get it changed of course)

So, im tyler, sometimes ty. sometimes tpain. sometimes tfrase. that is the bottom line.

don't get me wrong, i adore my name. im so happy my parents named me something original, and that they chose it for such a good reason, and that they mutually agreed it was right for me (because i believe it is, perfectly). i also really like having such a long name and having a first name i don't go by. especially since my siblings all do as well. it seems sort of regal in a way to me.

but here's the real kicker: my name, Tyler, is commonly a boys name. I realize this, but i am in fact, a girl. Unfortunately, this is quite a difficult concept for some people to wrap their heads around.

example: i just got off the phone with a company i've been corresponding with via email up to this date. no, i do not sign my emails MS Tyler Fraser. i don't think i should have to and that it would be kind of silly. Anyways, the woman actually paused after I told her who was calling and said: “So, you’re Tyler…and you’re female.” In this really serious, almost rude, disbelieving voice. I’m used to this and gave her a firm yet polite “Yes” in return. I think people find it especially difficult when they are expecting and picturing me as a boy before we talk on the phone or meet face to face.

Worse, I’ve talked to people who are just flabbergasted, and become lost for words. They'll stutter on their sentence, and say things like, but..but...you're name is really Tyler?

Argh! Yes people, it is true. I am a woman named TYLER. It is possible in this crazy world we live in!

I don’t really mind it usually. I just shake my head and think its funny, laughing at these peoples ignorance. I even had this one company that I was emailing with and they insisted on addressing me Mr. Tyler Fraser, or Mr. Tyler, in every email. (We had a bit of an office joke with that one...) But even funny things get irritating if they’re repeated too much.

So here I am, just a girl named Tyler trying to make her way in the world, believe it or not.