On Monograms

 LUCY BURDETTE: I’m not quite sure why this topic came to me, other than as a card carrying member of the Jungle Red blog, one must always be alert for possibly interesting subjects! Maybe these spoons caught my imagination when we’d been getting ready for a party and polishing the silver? Anyway, they got me thinking about monograms. I’ve never been the kind of person who wanted to put her name on sheets or towels or articles of clothing. In fact, a number of years ago, John bought some silver knives on eBay to fill out our set. They had somebody else’s initials on them and I never liked using them. We sold them back not long after. I do like these spoons because they are a blast from the past, monograms from my maternal grandmother, my mother, and then John’s baby spoon. Don't you love the one with the little windmill?

Here’s another one that I love, because it was the class ring belonging to my grandmother, Alice May Hunziker Isleib, who attended the Patterson Normal School.

I also got a kick out of coming across this briefcase which my father presented to me when I graduated with my degree in clinical psychology. I haven’t used it in years, but it makes me smile to think of him choosing it.

Are you a monogram person? 

HALLIE EPHRON: I have a friend who was divorced twice, and her maiden name and both married names started with the initial H. So her monogrammed towels conveniently lived on, marriage after marriage and continue on now that she’s once again single. 

I always hated my monogram. HE. I’m not a HE. It’s even worse with my middle name: HEE. It’s not funny. So I would rather NOT have my initials emblazoned on anything I own.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: The only thing I can think of that I’ve ever had monogrammed was a lovely decorative stationery stamp–which if I ever managed to write cards and letters to people, I would still use. But no monogrammed sheets, towels, or silverware here. My maiden name initials were fine–DLD–and those from my first married name (which is still my legal and professional name) are fine, too–DLC. I have had my husband’s initials, RW, engraved on some cocktail glasses, come to think of it, although I’m not quite sure why since he’s not much for drinking cocktails!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Aw, well, no, I guess. Do I have anything emblazoned (such a good word)  with H? Just an Hermes bracelet, thank you very much, which is all the monogram I need. :-) Someone gave me rocks glasses with an H on them, that’s fun, but whatever. My initials are HPR, in some worlds, which is fine. And I do have that monogram on my suitcase, which I have to say is helpful. But it’s tiny. I wish I had things with my grandmothers’ monograms, I’d love that, but I don’t. Or my mother’s.  I am not at all anti-monogram though, I think they can be very sweet.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Debs, I love the fact your initials are also the Roman number 590! I do love monograms, and I have several things of my mother’s that had hers - although since she married three times, they aren’t always the same! However, having a hyphenated name is tricky, especially if, like me, you’re a stickler for the proper form. For instance, my married name is Julia J. Hugo-Vidal, so a PROPER monogram should be J H-V J. Try fitting that onto a glass! Most places don’t even offer that level of customization. 

I do have, however, the family writing paper! I got a copperplate engraving of H-V from Crane Stationery shortly after I got married, and every five or ten years I have another batch printed. Each of the kids now has a box of their own, so if they aren’t writing proper bread-and-butter notes, they can’t blame it on a lack of paper.

JENN McKINLAY: No. Monograms have ALWAYS bugged me. WHY is the last name initial in the middle and bigger? It’s maddening to me. I just don’t like it. It makes me itchy. LOL.

RHYS BOWEN:  I live in a house full of other people’s monograms and family crests. That’s what you get if you marry into a frightfully posh English family. So the silverware has crests or monograms, the serving dishes etc. there is no space for another monogram even if I wanted one, which I don’t. I do wear the family crest signet ring. 

Lucy again: LOL on Jenn! Rhys, your story is the most interesting--now we want to see the ring!