Noemi's Names

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My Names

My First Name

Noémi

not

It is not misspelled!

There really is an e in there!

There really aren't any a's in there!

And that is an accent on the e!

I'm not crazy!

I'm not making this up!

Noémi is the French, Spanish, Italian, and no doubt others, version of Naomi. Naomi is a Biblical name from (I hope I'm saying this right) the Old Testament, The Book of Ruth, Chapter 1 (or is it Volume III Chapter 21?). Naomi was Ruth's mother-in-law, and the story is about Ruth's loyalty after Naomi lost her husband and two sons. The name Naomi means "pleasant", and Naomi said she should be called Mara (bitter) since she had suffered so much loss.

This page has the passage referring to Naomi's story. Choose "See this passage in" Italiano, Latin, or Espanol and you'll see the name spelled as Noemi (inexplicably Francais shows Naomi):

The Book of Ruth: Chapter 1

My name was given as the French version of Naomi, and is spelled with an accent on the e. It is pronounced no-eh-mi, though many variations exist. If you speak French, it should be easy to pronounce from the spelling. In Spanish and Italian it is pronounced no-ey-mi. English speakers usually say no-emmy or no-amy, though my family and childhood friends say something more like noy-mi. Save the no-amy yes-amy maybe-amy jokes, and anything else that pops to mind, I guarantee you're not the first.

Almost no one gets it right at first, so please feel free to ask. Many people don't want to admit they can't remember it, so pretend they do, or avoid saying my name at all. Don't try to fool me -- I've been doing this a long time. If you can't say my name, I'll know! It's OK, ask! Aren't you always relieved when someone asks you your name? Ask!

My Last Name

My 1970's post-women's-movement-era upbringing said that married women changing their last name represented a loss of identity. No one I knew in high school ever intended to change their names. But I don't see it that way anymore. My personal identity is tied to my first name, but my family identity is tied to my last name. I think it's fitting to forsake my father's name for my husband's name. My immediate family unit, my next-of-kin, has shifted from my origin family (my parents and siblings) to my current immediate family (my husband and children), and my last name reflects that.

Legally, my last name is Doudna and my middle name is now Berry, but really, I still think of Elisabeth as my true middle name. Berry is there just so that people who knew me before, personally and professionally, can be sure that "Noemi Berry Doudna" is the same person as "Noemi Elisabeth Berry." I have an advantage here in that my first name is more distinct than my last.

I'm not changing my domain name! (see below on Domain Name)

My Domain Name

In case it isn't obvious by now, NEBCOM is derived from Noemi Elisabeth Berry. I'll continue to use nebcom.com for all personal and professional contact.

There is (was?) a company called Nebraska Communications whose logo says NEBCOM, but their Web site seems pretty defunct. I'm not changing my domain name! (see above on Last Name)

My Husband's Name

A frequently asked question: Why does Dave sign his name as DaVE?

DaVE's answer:

It started as an inside joke between my friend (MiKE) and I who were working on Steve Job's black NeXT cubes at the time. Since then it has just become a convenient ASCII signature to make it easier to distinguish me in email from all the other Daves and Davids out there.