Mark vs. Eliot

I mentioned in earlier posts that my boyfriend goes by two separate names, Mark and Eliot. He’s graciously given me permission to blog about it and help explain to all of you his reasons for changing names.

His given name is Mark Eliot but he absolutely hates the name Mark. You see, his dad’s name is also Mark and when he was younger his family nicknamed him “Markie” or “Little Mark.” Sadly for him these nicknames stuck into his adult life, even after he got a professional degree. He decided from that point on that he wanted to go by Eliot in professional circles.

He explained all this to me when we first met and I immediately asked him if he’d rather I called him Mark or Eliot. He told me that it didn’t matter so I chose to call him Mark since that was his first name. When we moved to DC he wanted to start going by Eliot and informed me that from then on I would have to call him that. You can imagine my reaction. You can’t just date someone for 6 months and then have a name change. I did my best to call him Eliot in front of his coworkers but I know him as MARK. Don’t get me wrong; I COMPLETELY understand why he wants to be known as Eliot rather than Mark. I just think he should have told me that on our first date. Now it’s gotten to a point where half the people we know in DC call him Eliot and half of them call him Mark. Them calling him Mark is mostly my fault because that’s how I introduce him. I’m sorry, sweetie. I just can’t help it.

Depending on my mood I’ll call him Mark or Eliot. Some people reading this blog will know him as one or the other and I wanted to clarify why I’ll often refer to him as both. Feel free to do the same!

P.S. Starting tonight, I’m going to be posting pictures of food I’ve made and when you click the link below it will take you to a page where I’ll have a write-up of how it went. There will also be pictures of wine I try as well as anything else that relates to my kitchen. I hope y’all find it useful!