Yes, I’m Eager!

From WikiName

Eager is definitely a fun name, but imagine going through high school with it. The favorite question from guys was, “Are you?” Another fave was “Eager Beaver,” even into adulthood. Somehow, whenever anyone said “Eager Beaver,” they had the feeling they were being original. I could never quite figure that one out. My line became: “Like I’ve never heard that before.”

I work in radio and was getting ready to do a report one morning when the disc jockey asks, “Are you married?” “No,” I replied. “You know if you married a guy with the last name of Beaver, you could be Jo Eager-Beaver!” It was 5:00 in the morning. The coffee hadn’t kicked in. Did he really expect a laugh from me? Sorry, I couldn’t even fake it.

Jo is my middle name and that’s what everyone calls me. Being a female Jo is semi-unique. There are a few of us out there. This, too, sometimes brought a few laughs from the guys in high school. Apparently they’d never known a girl Jo. The teacher, when taking attendance the first day, asked if we had a nickname. “Mary Jo,” he said when he got to my name. “Call me Jo,” I said. I felt my cheeks turn pink when the boys chuckled.

My first name is Mary. That may not sound unique. After all, there are Mary’s all over the place. What’s different about it for me is that I have three sisters—and all three of them have names starting with the letter “B.” I’m not the oldest, nor the youngest. I’m in the middle, right behind Barbara and Beverly and before Beth.

“What’s up with that? Why didn’t I get a “B” name?” I asked my mom. “I love the name Mary and always wanted a Mary,” she said. Actually, I was not her only daughter without a “B”. She had a daughter a few years before me that only lived four days. She was named Rosemary. I wondered if my mom named me after her. “No,” she told me. “Would you have named me Mary Jo if Rosemary had lived,” I asked. “No,” she replied.

So, I’m not named after anyone in particular. Mom liked the name Mary and thought Jo went well with it. Ironically, Mary was never me. I was always called Jo.

A friend of mine, who also works in radio and television, told me when he first heard my name, he thought it was the best radio name he’d ever heard. I’ve even been asked if it was a made-up air name. Let’s face it, though—if you were making up a name for yourself, you probably wouldn’t pick a predominantly male name…and then add Eager to it.

So, am I? Yes, I’m Eager.

Author: Jo Eager