# Why do (little) girls like to write their name over and over and over and. . . **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 21, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357 "2004-05-21T14:19:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/1 "2004-05-21T14:19:11Z")
A buddy of mine is dating a woman who has 2 girls, 9 and 13, I think. I was over at his house last night and saw where one of them had written their name on a piece of paper about a billion times. I remember girls doing this when I was that age too, pages and pages of signatures. Why? What’s the appeal? Is this a stage that is “grown out of”? Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy Bruce\_Daddy ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/2 "2004-05-21T14:23:36Z")
Wow, good question! I remember doing this when I was little, too. As I recall, I was mostly working on my handwriting and/or perfecting the balance between individual flare, artistic complexity and legibility for my signature. But it does seem fairly narcissitic on reflection. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/3 "2004-05-21T14:25:55Z")
I remember my friends and I practicing signatures that we thought would be cool-looking and distinctive. Maybe they were doing the same? Of course, to be completely sappy, we sometimes practiced our “married name” signatures (i.e. with the last name of whatever guy we had a crush on). 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@Kaitlin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/4 "2004-05-21T14:31:33Z")
Huh. You know, I’m twenty-one, and I still write my name constantly, but not in the way you described, exactly. I do it idly when I’m talking on the phone or listening to a lecture, it isn’t really a conscious thing, but it used to be! Now it’s just a habit that I didn’t really think about until now. I don’t think it’s a preoccupation with love of self. But, really, your name is your first possession, and being the artistic sort I had to make sure it looked exactly right, exactly _Kaitlin_. With a little dramatic curve at the end of the “n”. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/5 "2004-05-21T15:00:56Z")
My daugher did it a lot (and still does it a fair amount, even though she’s now in college), but my son does it more. The difference is, my daugher used her real name; my son uses a pseudonym. I think he considers it a nom de guerre, while my daughter considers hers the nom de dieu. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/6 "2004-05-21T15:02:01Z")
Um, make that "daugh_t_er. ---
**Author:** ![Lynne\_kilii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lynne\_kilii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynne_kilii)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/7 "2004-05-21T15:06:07Z")
I still do it, and I’m 19. Not as much as young girls, but I never really went through that phase anyway. I do it because I don’t have pretty handwriting. I see nice signatures, but I have chickenscratch… so I practice. I think younger girls are just trying to have “nice” handwriting. If their definition of nice is I’s with little hearts… oh well. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/8 "2004-05-21T15:30:57Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > Wow, good question! I remember doing this when I was little, too. As I recall, I was mostly working on my handwriting and/or perfecting the balance between individual flare, artistic complexity and legibility for my signature. Yep. I have very pretty, if nearly illegible, handwriting, and part of it came from practicing writing my name &tc. over and over and over and over. Also at about that age, handwriting went through fads at my school ("s"s had to look a certain way, and for a while, we all tried to write as skinny as possible, among other things) and getting your writing to look right took practice. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/9 "2004-05-21T17:07:49Z")
Reminds me of a scene in [_Big_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094737/): > [@](#): > > She spent the last three months writing down her married name. “Mrs. Judy Hicks”, “Mrs. Donald Hicks”; “Mrs. Judy Mitchellson Hicks”, sometimes with a hyphen, sometimes without a hyphen. Sometimes, she spells the hyphen ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/10 "2004-05-21T17:12:39Z")
I’m male and I used to do the same thing. Still do sometimes, when really bored, actually. It’s part narcisism and part practice to make my signature distinctive but still intelligible. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/11 "2004-05-21T17:19:29Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > Reminds me of a scene in [_Big_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094737/): > > > [@](#): > > > > She spent the last three months writing down her married name. “Mrs. Judy Hicks”, “Mrs. Donald Hicks”; “Mrs. Judy Mitchellson Hicks”, sometimes with a hyphen, sometimes without a hyphen. Sometimes, she _spells_ the hyphen ‘spells’ needs to be italic. I remember that scene. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/12 "2004-05-21T17:21:27Z")
I should have done it more often as a kid because my handwriting is terrible and it’s a challenge making my signature look the same every time. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/13 "2004-05-21T17:50:25Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I should have done it more often as a kid because my handwriting is terrible and it’s a challenge making my signature look the same every time. Ditto here. But I have friends with really neat, pretty writing, but I can hardly make a word of it out. Whereas mine is legible most of the time. I think my handwriting got frigged up in grade 4. We always had to write things down, but that year were were tol we could print if we wanted. Well, i wanted to print. And myy writing hasn’t been as eat since. Or at leas,t I don’t think it has been. I can’t remember what myhandwriting used to look like. (I dont’ print that well either) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/14 "2004-05-21T17:52:59Z")
> [@sunfish](#): > > I remember my friends and I practicing signatures that we thought would be cool-looking and distinctive. Maybe they were doing the same? > > Of course, to be completely sappy, we sometimes practiced our “married name” signatures (i.e. with the last name of whatever guy we had a crush on). 😛 I’m a guy, but when I was a little older than the age range mentioned in the OP I too took pains to have a “cool” signature. I had a small collection of foreign paper money–in most countries, the notes are signed by the “President Of The Bank” and the “Head Cashier” or other high officials of the central bank. (If we did that here, our greenbacks would be signed by Greenspan and the president of the local FRB district, rather than by Administration functionaries.) Sometimes those signatures just looked like a scribble. I wanted mine to be legible, but carry an antique air of dignity and authority. In addition, I wrote the “v” in “van” small, to make it look more European. I also did it in backhand. It all seems rather vainglorious and stupid now, but I still sign that way, and that’s the way the bank knows my signature. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/15 "2004-05-21T17:57:24Z")
I was practicing my autograph for when I get Famous! (When I was opening this thread, I thought, "Ooooh fun joke! I’ll write MY name over and over in my post! I’ll be so CLEVER. But alas, I saw that **Bruce\_Daddy** had the same idea. _sigh_) ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/16 "2004-05-21T18:32:47Z")
> [@torie](#): > > (When I was opening this thread, I thought, "Ooooh fun joke! I’ll write MY name over and over in my post! I’ll be so CLEVER. But alas, I saw that **Bruce\_Daddy** had the same idea. _sigh_) They put flouride in our water. What’s in the Greenville water? 😉😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/17 "2004-05-21T19:53:35Z")
[Uranium](http://www.greenvillenews.com/communities/2001/02/13/200102132342.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/18 "2004-05-21T19:57:51Z")
> [@torie](#): > > (When I was opening this thread, I thought, "Ooooh fun joke! I’ll write MY name over and over in my post! I’ll be so CLEVER. But alas, I saw that **Bruce\_Daddy** had the same idea. _sigh_) Damn, I usually think like that. But it didn’t occur to me this time (maybe because I am not, or never was, a little girl) ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/19 "2004-05-21T21:47:47Z")
I don’t remember ever doing that when I was a child. I remember practising my signature when I left school for all the stuff I’d need to sign. I’ve noticed that kids today will write out the lyrics of songs in the charts, I can remember doing _that_ when I was a kid ---
**Author:** ![ZaLucky1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@ZaLucky1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZaLucky1)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357/20 "2004-05-21T21:52:31Z")
In my school it was the ‘cool’ thing to write I _heart_ \_\_\_\_\_ (fill in the blank with whoever you had a crush on). then, proceed to practice your name if you two got married. No way would I be caught doing that 😉 … instead I practiced my alphabet to improve my handwriting. It’s just recently I’m practicing my soon to be married name 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-little-girls-like-to-write-their-name-over-and-over-and-over-and/246357.md?page=2)