Y is for Yvonne

This is my last A to Z post, because Chad begged and pleaded to write the Z post, and because I try to be a good wife (and because I'm up to my eyeballs in finals), I agreed at something just under the speed of light. It's been fun doing the name series! And don't worry; I have a list of names that I didn't get to mention that I'm going to work my way through before I'm "done" done.

Yvonne

French feminine form of Yvon (that will not impress my friend Yvonne, who is from a non-French-speaking part of Canada and isn't too wild about the eastern side of the country), which comes from Yves, which comes from Ivo, which means 'yew'. Wow, that was a long trip! Got all the way up to #37 in the U.S. in 1977, but is not in the top 1000 today.

Famous Yvonnes: I had to look long and hard to find ones I've heard of! Yvonne Craig, ballet dancer and actress who played Batgirl on the original Batman series; Yvonne De Carlo, actress who was in The Ten Commandments and The Munsters, among other things.

Fictional Yvonnes: None that I can think of. 

My Yvonnes: One of my dearest friends is named Yvonne. She's Canadian, from Saskatoon, and is a lovely lovely person. We have a lot in common, for all our life differences. She once said that she never expected to meet an American who thinks so much like her on so many things, which made me giggle, because it never occurred to me that Americans and Canadians were that different. Of course, it helps that I'm an American from the north who spent a couple of years in Scotland, and that we met in Texas, where this northern girl was almost guaranteed to have more things in common with a Canadian than with these strange Texans. So, here's how the conversation went the day we met, not long after I started working in the same office as her:

Yvonne: Hello, I'm Yvonne.

Me: I'm Susan.

Yvonne: It's nice to meet you.

Me: Nice to meet you, too. Where are you from? (Yes, her Canadian accent is pretty obvious, even after she's lived in Texas for 20 years, so I just skipped over any niceties like the ill-mannered clodhopper that I am.)

Yvonne: Canada.

Me: Yes, I can tell, but where in Canada?

Yvonne keeps telling me I should move to
Saskatoon. I'm sure she's correct, except it
still gets cold in Canada, right? Source.

Yvonne: Saskatoon. (I think this was a test.)

Me: Oh, wow! I have a friend from Regina! (Another city in Saskatchewan.)

And that was when Yvonne's head nearly exploded from her combined delight and revulsion: delight that this American girl not only knew that Saskatchewan existed, but was also somewhat conversant in things Canadian, and revulsion at the mention of the city of Regina, which she doesn't like at all. It was all of ten seconds before we were friends and were swapping the sort of life details that one usually saves for after a few months' worth of friendship.

Do you know any Yvonnes? Are you inclined to skip straight to bad manners in moments of great excitement? Are you familiar with Saskatchewan (this question not intended for Canadians)?

Sources:

Behind the Name

Wikipedia