The Evolution of a Name

I have a lot of names: Elizabeth, Liz, Hightower, Hot Stuff and sometimes Lizzy or Elly. My various names correspond to different people and phases of my life. For those of you who are confused, I am going give a mini-history of my name.

My parents named me Elizabeth Ann Hightower, which was not the easiest name to write come kindergarten with 18 letters in just my first and last names. Most of my family calls me Liz, although my dad often calls me Elizabeth. My mom is the only one in the world who can call me Lizzy. Take note of this if you are thinking about trying it.

My friends from my childhood street called me Liz but my friends at school always called me Elizabeth. At church I was usually Liz and this carried over to the Christian summer camp I worked at in the summers.

In college I was Elizabeth to most of my friends. My college roommate, Lucy confused about the Liz/Elizabeth debate, decided to try to call me Liz for a week. In her words, "It didn't take" and she resorted back to calling me Elizabeth. I also came up with my own self-proclaimed nickname in college, "Hot Stuff." This came from having to sign up for different things with my campus ministry. I would grow bored of writing my name so I would sign Elizabeth "America's Sweetheart" Hightower or Elizabeth "Sweet Thang" Hightower. One time I wrote Elizabeth "Hot Stuff" Hightower and a friend named Sam Duff started calling me that. It stuck. I love absurd things and what's more absurd than me giving myself the nickname, Hot Stuff?

After college, I attended my DTS at YWAM Maui where there were two other girls named Elizabeth. One went by the one-of-a-kind nickname, Biza and the other commandeered Liz so I was known again as Elizabeth. Then when I came back on staff, my closest friend, Amy called me Liz and most other people followed suit. On outreach to Bangladesh, our contact started calling me Elly. First time I had heard this one. Some of my friends from that team still call me that.

When I was a teacher we pretty much all called each other by our last names so I became Hightower to my teacher friends. Then for some reason when I came back to YWAM for the third time, people also started calling me Hightower.

So depending on where you know me from, I could be Elizabeth, Liz, Hightower, Hot Stuff, Elly or even Mexican Sugar (long story.) It doesn't really matter which one you call me as long as you stick to the same one. And remember, only my mom can call me Lizzy!