> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.allisonsometimes.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What's In a Name? - URL: https://www.allisonsometimes.com/whats-in-a-name/ - Published: 2026-10-01T22:30:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-10T00:06:28.000Z - Description: A personal essay about the history and legacy of a name and living as your truest self, with an assist from classic characters from literature and myth. - Author: Allison Jones - Tags: Immaterial Objects, Essays ## **What's In a Name?** ### Adalhaidis, Wonderland, and Living Up to Your Muchness --- A great many things happen when you're named Allison. There are frequent misspellings, a totally-unnecessary-but-required-by-your-teacher translation for a grade school Spanish class, and, chief among them, nicknames. One of my favoritescame from my younger cousin who was then very young and highly prone to fumbling the language he was still in the early days of learning. Allison, on his fledgling tongue, was shortened to Alice and pronounced *Ah-wiss*. Fellow cousins, siblings, and parents alike found it impossibly charming. A few years later, once I was fully in the throes of my love of names and words and their meanings and origins, I smiled at just how right he was in that shortening. Allison is a diminutive of Alice and though Allison itself means "little Alice", most attribute the meaning of Alice to Allison as well. Alice, and her offspring, means "of noble character or rank" and has its roots in Old French and Old High German. Old French, spoken roughly between 840–1400 CE in northern regions of the Kingdom of France, supplied the parents in its midst with the name Alis or Alys, a modernized form of Alais, itself a diminutive of Adelais, translated from the Old High German name Adalhaidis (also written Adalheidis). As the earliest stage of the German language Old High German, and thus Adalhaidis, dates back to 500–1050 CE. My namesake is a combination of two Proto-Germanic words: \*aþala-, meaning nature or nobility and \*haidu-, meaning appearance or kind. So in other words, "a pleasure to have in class," is the ancient mantle under which I was born. I haven't been able to shrug it off yet. Not that I'd want to. *It's at this moment that I'd like to thank Wikipedia and its multitude of sources, mostly in German, at the bottom of the Alice (name) page for providing those irrefutable facts. If only my college professors could see me now...* Allison sounds a lot like "Alice in" when you say or hear it aloud. And when it's your name, you say or hear it aloud a lot, both clearly and through cotton ball ears. I don't know where your cotton ball ears take you, but mine take me to Wonderland. A Victorian-era child named Alice (Liddell) was the inspiration for the titular character of *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.* Alice (the name), and her offspring, had spikes in popularity after the novel was published by Lewis Carroll in 1865, made into a Disney animated film in 1951, and adapted by Tim Burton in 2010\. The fictional Alice, on the surface, is a triumph for daydreamers and wallflowers alike. I know many a person who feels out of step with the "real" world that sees themselves in at least one of the characters, myself included. Humankind is creative in adaptation but the stories at the heart of our novels and myths, differ though they do in names and locations, are much of a muchness. I can't help but draw parallels between the charming children's story, originally titled *Alice's Adventures Under Ground*, and that of a different young lady whose descent into the deep, dark world underground cracked the seasons in half after she had her Eat Me moment with a few pomegranate seeds. Our need for such stories has never waned. In a society that *still* demands compression and contortion, it is an act of defiance to be wholly yourself. It is controversial to stretch far and wide and dare to be as changing as the moon and the tides. It is inconvenient to be curious and allow everything around you to become curiouser the more you pay attention to it. Being so bold requires bold role models, an unblinking eye, and steady feet as you first tumble, and then stroll, into the underground time and time again. I count myself impossibly lucky to have met an entire cast of characters—many of them women and some of them at the breakfast table—who have fortified me in my quest to be as muchy as I can. In the mid-2010s, I took a job that, at the time, seemed very random but later proved itself to be very right. It was there I met an older woman named Heidi. She terrified nearly everyone with her exacting standards and quick, determined steps. I admired her, and her shoes, and squealed, internally of course, when she dolloped praise over my head as she drew a comparison between us. An ancient comparison, as I'm sure you've spotted that Heidi hiding in Adalheidis. We, in essence, share the same name. And, now, the same shoes. ## Membership is at the heart of the Allison Sometimes experience. Become a Member Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. By signing up, I agree to receive emails. Sometimes. --- **Dear Reader,** Thank you for spending part of your day here with me. *If you've enjoyed this post and would like to support Allison Sometimes with a one-time tip, in lieu of or in addition to membership, you may do so below.* [Tip Jar](#/portal/support) If you know someone who would also enjoy this post, invite them in by sharing it via your favorite platform. And to my Fellows and Founders, I look forward to seeing the conversations you strike up in your comments section. Most sincerely, ![Allison](https://storage.ghost.io/c/32/25/3225c668-f4c4-45c1-912d-1c1bc0aa870b/content/images/2026/10/AS---Signature-2.png)