Where the "Q" came from

The story of JennyQ started in Windsor Ontario during  FROSH week.   It was September 1993.  Back in those days you would stand in a line, with many other people and wait your turn to make it to the front of the line to speak with whoever was sitting there with a clipboard behind a folding table with a sign taped to it.  

The people who sat behind the clipboard had the job to confirm who you are supposed to be or take down your name to be included in the event they are promoting and organizing.  I am taking this time to describe this setup, because I am unsure if this still happens today, with all of the incredible online interfaces and sites.  It is important to the story.

It is important to this story because I am nosey and so could not help but listen as the folks behind the table with the official clipboard  when they would ask for basic information like name, student number, faculty and all that jazz.

At one table the man in front of me was from Africa and had a delightfully unique name.  Once the handsome man from Africa moved on I slid up to the table, finally, it was my turn.  The woman behind the clipboard gave me a welcoming smile and asked me my name.  

 I smiled back and said “Jenn”.  The woman then asked me how to spell that.  I paused for a moment.  Not because I forgot how to spell my own name, but because she asked.  The man from Africa with the exotic delightful name did not spell his name for her.  I know because I was listening in, I am nosey, remember?  Those thoughts entered and left my mind all in a split second.  I told her.  I then moved onto the next line at the next table.

It then slowly started to feel like groundhog day, the movie, where things happen the same way over and over again,  I would stand behind someone with a name that was much more beautiful and interesting than JENN and the person would not bat an eyelash.  As I would step up and provide my name, I would be asked how to spell JENN.  

It would not be accurate to say I was mad.  Perhaps frustrated and confused would be closer.  I love language, and words.  I especially am fond of my own name,  so perhaps I also held a shadow of feelings of being overlooked or not heard when I said JENN.    

Without making too much of a conscious effort, I decided that the next table this happened at, if it happened again, I would come up with some sort of cheeky, not rude, response, to draw my line in the proverbial sand and say, listen THIS IS MY NAME, be sure to spell it right.

As sure as the sun sets in the west it happened again.  How do you spell that?  

A smirk rose to my lips as my mind whirred, and I replied with a question to the woman with the clipboard and pen poised ready to record whatever I would utter, “are you ready?” I asked.  She nodded.  I slowly spelled out; J- E- N- N.  I then interrupted myself and said: “with a silent Q”.  I watched the woman scribe it on her paper and watched her eyebrows raise as she looked at me and wanted to confirm, she said: “JennQ” (sounded like JENQ, focussing on the consonance of the Q).  “Oh no”, I began, “the Q is silent but must be there, it is my name”.

Well I also have a bit of a stubborn side and so I decided to keep the Q for the first week of school and so I would sign with the name JennQ. 

It turns out this was a good conversation starter and it even led me to meet one particular fellow in my faculty of Drama, a fellow who became a very dear friend of mine.  He also has a cheeky side and so he flip-flopped it and decided to make the Q consonant and the Jenn silent.  To this day he greets me with a huge grin and hugs as he says, “QQQQQQ”.  JennQ became the way my friends would address me.  It stuck through all of university.  It also stuck with my core group of friends.  Essentially it was a nickname.

After graduation one of those friends and I moved to Toronto to pursue our careers in the world of theatre and television.  I decided that I really wanted to work in children's television and started to audition for various programs, networks and commercials.  It was like Deja vu, sort of, as I looked at my resume, bio and headshots with my name JENN.  Something was not sitting right in my mind and spirit. 

I decided to change my name to Jenny.  It felt better.  Then it just evolved into JENNYQ.  As soon as that happened it fit,  It was perfect.  It fit my personality and reflected my unique quirky fun and light spirit.  

There is not much else to say, other than, I knew it was my name. It no longer was a nickname, it was MY name that fit me perfectly. 

The Q came from my own imagination to identify me as a unique Jenn among all Jennifers of the world.  The Q in JennyQ is my own creation and identity.