Is it so hard to believe

that my name is Gudrun? This weekend I received an email from someone I met at BlogHer, and she addressed it thusly:

Hi Gudrun (eek - I don't know your real name)

Really? The fact that my name is in my email and on my business cards is not enough to make it real? Gudrun is a real name. Honestly.

My favorite - when I am signing up for something, or buying something, and they ask for my name, and I tell them Gudrun, they write it down, then ask for my first name. Huh? Better yet, a nurse at the blood drive asked my name, then wanted to know who would name me something like that. Really. Hurtful.

Please, people, get a little educated.

Better yet, I will tell you what you need to know:

From my Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary: Gud-run, the wife of Sigurd and later Atli in Norse mythology.

Gudrun appears as a main character in Nibelungenleid (Norse mythology), Volsungsaga (Icelandic), and Laxdaelasaga (Icelandic). Also, Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence and a Wagnerian opera, Der Ring des Nibelungen. Here is the Wikipedia page all about Gudrun. Oh, and in case you did not know, Gudrun is a feminine name.

Yeah, so it is not that popular here in the good 'ole U.S.A., but Gudrun is very popular in the Nordic Countries and Germany. There is a chocolate named Gudrun, a fancy clothes designer GudrunGudrun and other folks from the blogger world.

Believe me, when I was a kid, I hated my name. It was hard for most people to pronounce, no one could spell it correctly, sometimes they thought I was a boy, and it was generally just a pain. And I can promise you that I spend an inordinate amount of time with my kids teaching them the importance of spelling someone's name correctly.

Nowadays, I take pride in my name, happy that I can be a one-name wonder, like Madonna or Cher. I mean really, how many Gudruns do you know?

P.S. I am trying to collect a running list of Gudruns in the blogosphere, the G-List. Comment if you would like to be added.....

Starting a G-List

Not that this will come as a surprise, but there are other Gudruns out there in blog land! I have found a couple:

Gudrun P

Gudrun in Manchester, UK

Gudrun Blogga

Gudrun's Schmunzel-Blog

There has to be more out there, maybe I should start a G-List, like the even popular T-List of Travel Blogs. Anyone with the name Gudrun can add themselves to the list and we could create a big web of Gudruns. This idea probably does not make sense to you if your name is more common, but frankly, as a Gudrun in the middle of California, my name is a bit of an oddity. So, to all the Gudruns out there, let's unite!