Toothpaste

People often ask who I'm named after, where I got my name or what my name means. I've asked these same questions of my mother many times. Surprisingly, I got different answers - and they seemed to differ according to the age I was at the time I asked the question.

For instance, my first memory of asking produced the answer, "I had a doll named Kopana."

Next came, "You know how little girls like to change the letters of words and make new words? I had a doll named Kopana."

Followed by, "There was a popular toothpaste when I was young called Ipana Toothpaste. You know how little girls like to change the letters of words to make new words? Ipana Kopana."

NOTE: For those too young to remember Ipana (45-ish or younger) you may have instead seen the movie Grease. There is a scene in which the girls have a sleepover at Frenchy's. On TV is an Ipana Commercial....sing along: "brusha, brusha, brusha, new Ipana toothpaste...."

And then there's my own theory; the theory mom would never fess-up to even if I was right. Before she married dad she was engaged to a Hawaiian. I don't know his name (she's only mentioned him once in my 43 years) but there is a common Hawaiian male name "Kaapana ". (In fact, there's a famous slack key and ukulele master named Led Kaapana ledkaapana.com) Am I a leftover from a romance gone asunder? I think it entirely possible....especially since she'd had 20+ years of rearranging letters to make new words by that time.

Still - nothing sounds as good as being named after a toothpaste!