Identity Crisis Runs in the Family

I was thinking yesterday about all the name changes in our family. Lots of members of our family have changed their names from their original birth names to something else, and then sometimes to something else yet again or back again. It's a wonder any of us know who the others are! But it all started with our parents. Dad was named Luther but acquired the nickname "Boots" because of the footwear he wore as a child. Then there's Mom. Mom was christened Ruby Lee and called Ruby all her life, which seemed to suit her just fine until about 1975 when she morphed into "Lee." I've never heard the explanation for that change and that's okay because I just call her Mom. First Daughter Janis is born and somewhere along the way changed the spelling to "Janice" and somewhere else along the way changed it back to "Janis." That's what Mom told me anyway. Or was it Ruby, or Lee? We won't go into her penchant for changing her last name but do wonder about her alter-ego Moonlight Lady. Then there's my second sister...she who must be called by her new name or she won't answer. Jean Carol Fowler headed west to California, absorbed the atmosphere and evolved into "Ruby Jean Libra." Huh? She circled around the cosmos for awhile and came back to earth as "Ruby Fowler." Okay, that's better, but which Ruby is which? If you're talking about Ruby you need to know if it's the Ruby who is now Lee or the Ruby who used to be Jean, but either way she's a gem! Brother Joe followed a more natural progression from Joey to Joe to Joseph back to Joe, but just to stir things up I like to call him JoJo. And what's with all these "J" names anyway? I guess that's a story for another time. Then there's me, christened Jennifer but known during my early years as Sissy because when I was born Joe wasn't old enough to say my name and Sissy sounded better than jerfer or whatever it was he could articulate at 18 months old. Registering for kindergarten I became Jennifer again but still Sissy at home and as I got older, sometimes "Jen." Fast forward to my Florida years where I became Jenni with an "i", back to Georgia where I was mostly Jennifer but sometimes Jenny with a "y." In my late 20's my best friend started calling me "J" but she also called her husband John "J" and gave her daughter the middle name "Jae." Mike enters the picture and started calling me Jay. Okay, I can be Jay, but Jay looks like a boy's name so after much consideration I change it to Jaye. Gotta keep up the family tradition! So now I have two names, Jennifer and Jaye and sometimes Jen and that's okay except some people know me as Jaye and some know me as Jennifer and some don't know we are one and the same person! I used to introduce myself as either/or but have decided to go back to introducing myself as strictly Jennifer and those in the know can call me Jaye if they want to and I will answer. I'll even answer to Jen or Jenny. But I'm still not sure who those other people are.