What's in a name?

So, my new, pretty little girl of mine officially has a name:

Ginny.

More people really liked Scarlet, and I did too, otherwise, I wouldn't have considered it, but, it just didn't fit her. I'd try to say it, call her that, had other people call her Scarlet, and, it just sounded wrong to me. Ginny rolled off the tongue much smoother and it just felt right. She has red hair and I can't help but to think, "She's my Weasley!" Sorry, my HP nerdomness is NEVER going away! I love how much Ginny fits her! She's shy and timid, like Ginny was in the beginning of the HP saga, and she transforms into a talented, brave, and beautiful heroine; and I see my Ginny with the same potential. She's already starting to come out of her shell and I am loving it. She is so sweet and has the calmest demeanor. She hardly ever makes noises. She sometimes barks when she is outside (which she loves), and she growls sometimes when Gizmo or D'artagnan try to go under the bed when she is occupying it; she is protective of her space, it's pretty hilarious! I get compliments on how beautiful she is when we go out, especially when we go to the dog park (which is her favorite thing in the world, btw). I love her! She is also such a cuddle bug! (which is really comforting to me right now) She's the best "dumb purchase" I've ever made. :D

Speaking of her name, I want to talk about mine. 

I've never been much of a nickname person, I just don't receive them nor do I think many are fitting. My sister calls me 'Pumpkin' and because of her, my nephew has taken to call me 'Auntie Pumpkin', I love it!  Would you consider 'Ash', the condensed version of my name, a nickname? Because I'm not sure. Anyway, I feel I have a more intimate relationship with most people who call me 'Ash'. I used to hate being called that, but, I love it now. 

With me about to be newly single, I'm about to embark on a name change, myself. You know.... it really sucks to change names! I'm assuming I'll marry again sometime in the future, so, the fact that I have at least 2 more name changes in my future just really blows. Well, as everyone assumes, most divorced women with out children choose to go back to their maiden name; I however, do not. I was actually contemplating on keeping my name the way it is; it's short, easy, and I do love it, but, it won't be the same..... plus it'll just be awkward too, when I do start dating again to admit that I kept my married name..... yeah..... no bueno. So, what do I do when I don't want either? I'm technically able to change my name to whatever I want, and I heavily considered coming up with something fun and random, but, I decided against it. I don't want future posterity getting lost when doing genealogy, and I wouldn't want them to get stuck on something that was my doing... I'd feel bad! I then tossed around the idea using my moms maiden name. I played with it for a few days, tried using it in my signature, it just wasn't sticking. Plus I didn't want to have a 3rd last name over the span of 5 years.... that'd just be confusing. After all this contemplating, I finally made my decision; I don't want a last name! Not right now, anyways. I'm just going to drop my last name altogether, as well as my middle name, and make my middle name my new last name; therefore, no change! I'm just not picking anything up, and I'm dropping what I do have; and I see no foreseeable major problems with this decision. So, from now on, I will just be Ashley Marie. I'm happy with that.