Gujgdijdf!
Cleopatra on a person?
No. I want to love it, but I don't and I can't and I won't and I shalln't. It's either any number of Ptolemaic queens or not Ptolemaic queens or a great fluffy Persian cat of a name. It's majestic, yes, but not a personable name.
Cleo is one of these names which I kind of love, kind of makes me queasy. I want to love it. it's pretty amaze, but in stone cold reality it will never fit well enough, and I will never warm to it. I love it, but in the grey light of morning it's just a bit... hmmm... yes. Not good, not wearable and not easy to grow with... and it gets tired quickly. On the fifth hearing, yes, nice, cute, but on the twenty-fifth? And the two-thousand and thirty first?
I can't imagine how irritating "
Cleopatra, take out the trash!", "
Cleopatra, do you have school today?", "
Cleo, do the dishes, pet!", "Damn it,
Cleopatra! Empty the cat's litter tray!"... must get. Actually, I can, because I know just that brand of pretty-frilly and faux-historic and grandiose name, and there's nothing more
annoying -
Cleopatra,
Cleopatra,
Cleopatra,
Cleopatra, again and again, it would wear thin. I spent some time out in Moscow recently, and frequently got complimented on my own OTT name, which is, as I got abruptly reminded, apparently like Russian name-catnip, and all I could say was "Well, thank you for the compliment, but, dude, have you tried being
nagged with this name?"... because I just think
Cleopatra is going to be one of these names which can be like nails down blackboards in that sense.
For all it's lovely, in reality both
Cleopatra and
Cleo are pretty but problematic and I can't love them in person. I just think... really? I think most people, when they sit down and have a good ponder about it, will realise being called
Cleopatra is actually a recipe for pain in the arse.