After all these years, I finally started using the name ‘Virg’.

Yes, ‘Virg’ is short for ‘Virginia’. Most people know me by Virginia, but being called ‘Virg’ sure beats being called ‘Virgil’ by a sister or ‘Virgie’ by a co-worker (which I really hate). Actually, if those who know me really think about it, the name ‘Virg’ suits me. I think of ‘Virg’ as an unexpected version of ‘Virginia’. I’ve always been a person to set my own trend, choose my own path, never follow the crowd. Who wants to wear what everyone else is wearing? I certainly don’t want to. And ‘Virg’, to me, personifies just that.

Not one for big crowds, I still like to stand out in one though. And so the name ‘Virg’. It gets me attention in a quiet, non-assuming way, makes people look up and take notice.

And, sure, ‘Virginia’ is a great name. Being named after my dad’s favorite sister is definitely an honor. And, the state of Virginia is as beautiful as the travel books said it would be. But, somehow, ‘Virg’ is more indicative of the ‘me’ I have evolved into over the years. It separates me from the person some of my siblings insist that I am and introduces me — to them and to others — as the person I have been all along and who I now am today.

Like the character in the song by the group, Train, I really don’t want to be the queen. So…don’t ‘meet Virginia’, meet: VIRG.