When I was born, my mom told the nurse to put in the blank for ‘name’ Era Jo Parham – her words were (she told me) “I said ‘Jo’ like in Little Women”. That was her favorite book.  Her name was Era Parham.

I guess the nurse had no idea that it was spelled JO, not JOE and neither myself nor mama knew either that she’d put JOE on my birth certificate for 15 years. It was a Catholic hospital and I guess the standards in 1947 weren’t as rigid as they should have been.

Everyone called me Era Jo because Mama was Era. 

Daddy called me Jo Jo.

As a teen, I realized no one in the whole world (I thought) had the name Era and I constantly had to tell people how to pronounce it because inevitably people pronounced it, Error.  To which I’d tell them, No, I’m not a mistake, it’s Era.  So, I decided to use Jo because that was easier than getting people to say my name correctly. Now when I meet someone, I point to my EAR so they’ll know how to pronounce it.

At 15 my mom dug out my birth certificate so I could go take my driver’s test.  She was horrified to see the nurse had added an E to Jo!  I was horrified too! And, being a teen, it was very embarrassing.  Mama had carried me for 9 months and had a right to name me the name she had for me.  But now it was too late.

When I married in 1980, I became Era Rowe…no one (again) could understand Era Rowe.  Sounded like Ra Ra Rowe – a cheer.  Also, we had just moved to Houston and every time we went somewhere socially, people would call Terry ‘Jo’ and call me ‘Terry’ so I decided to use my initials.  We were there for one year with Terry’s job and so I got on at a temp agency instead of permanent employment.  So weekly, meeting a new group of people, it was easier to just go by J. P. Rowe.

  I never changed my name, had just been using it for convenience.  I think Terry did that.  All I know is I didn’t.

I was J. P. Rowe for 36 years.  From 1980 till 2016. 

I was divorced in 2006 and kept my name but was now visiting new places for bible studies instead of staying in the ones for married people that I’d always gone to.  I was in charge of greeting guests at one and was supposed to meet guests at the door, ask them how they heard about us and ask what church they attended, etc.  ALWAYS, seeing my name tag, EVERY SINGLE ONE would inquire, “What does JP stand for?”  so, I had to go through that speech over and over, explaining about being married to Terry.  I was SO SICK OF IT that the next person who came up I said, JP STANDS FOR JP! In an angry voice.  I knew it was time to use my REAL NAME for the first time in my life.  Past time really.  MY real name is the one my mother gave me and meant for me to have!  Which I’d never gotten to use.  I ONLY changed my name ONE TIME and it was to change it to the name mama gave me in order to finally fix what the nurse messed up.

When I was a teen, Yvonne gave me the nick name Hef.

I think it’s normal to take your husband’s last name upon marriage.  So, I did, not being a feminist.

So, YES, I have changed my name to Era Jo Parham.  ONE time. Legally.  To correct a huge mistake.

When my kids were teens, I would call Liz and ask about Jenny…she’d say, “ME, mommie!  Let’s talk about ME! ME ME ME.”

When I’d call Jenny and ask about Liz, she’d say, “Mommie, no – not talk about Liz…Talk about ME ME ME.”

They both started calling me MEME because of it.  So, when I became a grandmother, I didn’t even need to think of a new name for my grand babies to call me…all Jen’s friends and Liz’s friends in high school and in college already were calling me ME ME. I had my first grandchild 11 years ago and had been called MeMe by my kids since they were around 16 and 18.  So I’ve had that name chosen for me – not by me for about 24 years.

I hope this clears things up.