10 Days of Gene Kelly: Day 5

5. "The Heather on the Hill," with Cyd Charisse, Brigadoon

There's another pas de deux later in the film, to the same music, that I consider a sort of continuation of this number. So I'll post it here as well (you can consider it 5 1/2!).

What's in a name?

Quite by accident, I found out my great-great-grandmother's name today. My mom was looking through some old pictures and things she wanted to send to my grandma, and there was a family book some of our cousins had put together, and she was in there. I've looked through that book before, so I must have seen her there sometime in the past, but I don't remember -- maybe I was concentrating more on the relatives that I did know. Anyway, her name was Natalina -- isn't that pretty? A lot of my female ancestors had very pretty Italian names: Natalina, Lucia, Nicolina. The former two eventually Americanized them to Natalie and Lucy, respectively. I think those versions are pretty too, though.

One of the most interesting name changes in our family: My great-grandmother (Natalina's daughter) was Antonia, and Antonia's husband was Luciano, but when they came here they changed their names . . . to Louis and Antoinette. Just a random choice, or did they fancy being named after French royalty? (Or was someone who helped process them at Ellis Island perhaps a fan of French royalty?) I wish I knew!

I should get into geneaology someday, though it seems like a time-consuming and sometimes expensive endeavor. I absolutely love finding out little tidbits like this about people who died long before I was born!