I was reading the Londonpaper on the tube tonight (as an aside, can I just say how gutted I am that it's folding in the autumn, it's much better than the London Lite! The love page cracks me up!) and there was a story about Cheryl Cole being chosen as the new UK face of L'oreal. Apparently she's 'always wanted to utter the immortal phrase "because you're worth it"'..now, there's a quote. Anyway, as I was reading, I was thinking what an icon and media darling she's become lately, and I came to wonder, would she be this popular if her name was still Cheryl Tweedy?
Now, obviously, having the name Cole, at least for the next 6 weeks, you may think me biased, or those of you who know mw well and also know my grammar obsessed ways, may even be forgiven for thinking it's something about the alliteration. But let's face it, Cheryl Cole, however you look at it, is a cooler name than Cheryl Tweedy. I can understand why she changed it. And call me shallow, but I really don't think our image obsessed public and our even more image driven press in this country, could really ever allow themselves to truly love a woman named Tweedy.
So what is in a name? Do a few randomly selected consonants and vowels really have the power to influence our lives and the impact we have on the world and on others? I know some people with some bland names, some tricky to spell names, and even some downright silly or unfortunate names, but now I think of it, none of them are either lifted up or downtrodden by their names. Personality and what people choose to do with themselves in life seems to be the key. So, I appear to have talked myself out of my original argument. the only conclusion being, I suppose, that Cheryl Cole is now loved where she was once vilified, because she used to be a chav and now she's a classy strong minded woman.
Really???
