My father had a very cool aunt, his aunt Flossie, who died not long after he and my mom got married. They decided that should they have a girl, they would name the baby after her. According to my uncle (dad's brother), Flossie was kind, funny, very fashionable, and could hold her liquor like no one he knew
. Flossie, however, was a nickname, short for Florence, which was her middle name. Her first name was Carlisle, and she couldn't stand it, so she went by her middle name all her life.
My grandmother (my mother's mother) was raised by her aunt Elizabeth and uncle David, and my mom really liked them a lot when she was little, they always used to read to her.
So when I was born, they named me Carlisle Elizabeth. They never called me Elizabeth, though, they nicknamed me Carlie. I hated my name growing up, and thought many times about going by Elizabeth, but I never got around to making it official. As an adult, I'm okay with it, and most people tell me it's very pretty...once they learn to pronounce it.
Had I been a boy, I'd have been named David Franklin.