January 22nd, 2019

I don't know if this is something that has happened in your life, but it definitely has in mine.  Repeatedly.   For whatever reason, the universe has decided that there will be an inordinate number of people in my life whose names begin with the letter   "J".

The first one of course would be my sister, Joy.  She is two years and nine months younger than me.  We can round that to three years if you like.  I honestly do not remember a time in my life that she wasn't in it.  So J is for Joy!  Both my sister and happiness.  Nice.

But I also remember walking to school (before Joy was school aged) with two other girls.  Twin sisters, Janice and Judy.  They had red hair and freckles and were absolutely adorable.  I wonder if they are why I've always had a fondness for red hair?

I've known more Jennifers than I care to list and of course Justins, Johns or Jons, and Jasons. We had a cat named Jonah who was the most awesome cat I've ever known and the kids used to have a friend named Joe.  I have a brother in law named Jeffrey.

Two of my three daughters in law's have names starting with J and I am forever saying the wrong name.  Julie and Jessie.  Totally entirely completely different people but their names start with J and so I mix them up. All. Of. The. Time!  I don't  know how they can even stand me sometimes.

Tim's late mother's name was Judy, another J and to make things even more confusing his equally late step-mother's name was Joan.  Great. Another J.  Another opportunity for me to say the wrong name and sometimes in that particular case it could be more than a little awkward.

When I worked at the audiology office we had a Jeannette and not one but two Jan's.  That's back in Colorado.  Where I also have a friend whose name is Jan.  I find myself saying their first and last names every time I mention them. But I say them very fast and close together as if it was one word. Janhastings.  Jancrossin.    That way Tim has a clue which Jan I am referring to when I say, "Oh I heard from Jan today" which prompts him to ask, "Which Jan?"  If I automatically say Jancrossin, he already knows.  Another Colorado friend is Jenai.  A beautiful and unusual name for a beautiful and unusual girl.  And yet another J.

Just as an aside, a minute ago, I accidentally typed the word automatically as automagically.  I like that word.  I need to find a way to use that somehwere.  Automagically.  Feel free to borrow it ;)

Back to the letter J.

In high school, one of the very first people I met was a lovely girl named, Sherry.  I don't know why, but for reasons unknown I absolutely could not remember her name.  After asking her an embarrassing number of times what her name was, she much more kindly than I deserved asked me why it was that I couldn't get her name in my head!  I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders.  "Maybe," I suggested, "Maybe you just don't look like your name to me".  She hmmed on that a bit and then asked me what name she did look like.  I considered it  and then finally told her that to me she looked like a "Jamie".  She kind of liked that.  Or at least she didn't hate that.  And from that point forward, to me, she was Jamie.  

Fast forward many years and I now have a niece whose name is Jamie.  So now I have to identify the Jamie's in my life by first and last names as well.  Although, I am TRYING to call the originally Jamie in my life by her given name these days.  I don't always remember it, but I am trying.

One of my cousins has 4 boys.  All of them has names that start with the letter J.   They have great names.  They are great kids.  I never EVER get their names right.  Which J name goes on which J kid?  And that's my failing, not anyone else's just mine.  I own this.

The very first person I met once we moved to Venice Island?  Joan.  Another J!  They are chasing me.  Haunting me.  

All this folderol about the tenth letter of the alphabet and in truth it wasn't even invented until the 1600's.  Yup the letter & is only 400 years old.  Which sounds really ancient but in the grander scheme of written language, not so much.

And yet, more than 15% of men's names begin with the letter J and more than 8% of women names. "J" is the most popular letter for boy's names.  Seriously. I looked it up.  "R" is the second most popular letter for men's names to begin with and only the letter "M' is more popular in girl's names.  Crazy eh?  

So you see,  the odds are there.  It's not actually letters but numbers.  I'ts math! We are all more likely to know people whose names begin with the letter J than not. It's not just my imagination.  It's true.

Still, the letter J does not appear anywhere in the periodic table of elements which I didn't believe when I first read that so I checked and it is absolutely true. 

In my search for information about this ever so popular letter, I found this YouTube video  that suggests that the letter J has influence over the bearers personalty.  It was even called, "Personality Traits of people whose names begin with the letter J" which I find dubious to say the least.  You ready?  According to this video, (whose veracity is murky) people whose names begin with J are:

Ruthlessly ambitious
Financially astute
Kind to Others
Lacking in a belief in true love
Interested in foreign relationships
Honest to a fault
Strong believers in the importance of duty and responsibility
Well meaning
Frighteningly candid

I don't know if those qualities apply to every person whose name begins with the letter J or just some people whose names begin with J or just some people who have names.

But it was good to know that I am not imaging things.  There actually are more people whose names begin with the letter J than any other letter. Which is pretty impressive for a letter that is only 400 years old.  Rocketed to the top of the charts in only 400 years.  Woohoo!