A few weeks ago a relative sent me a recipe for something called Sloppy Dorothys. I didn’t quite know how to take that. But as it turns out, the Sloppy Dorothy is a variation on the Sloppy Joe, the sandwich that’s made with ground meat and tomato sauce and typically served on a hamburger bun. You may know it by another name—barbecue, spoon burger or wimpie, which is what my family called Sloppy Joes when I was growing up.
I’ve been called both sloppy and wimpy, though never barbecue. So I’d love to say that the Sloppy Dorothy is named after me, but I hate to lie so early in a column. It was actually named for Dorothy Lynch Home Style Salad Dressing, one of its ingredients. I have yet to try the recipe, but I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.
Coincidentally a few days after the recipe arrived in my inbox, I stumbled on an online article claiming that Dorothy is one of many old-fashioned names that are back in style. I would have enjoyed that news a lot more if the article hadn’t been titled, “30 ‘Old Lady’ Baby Names That Are Making a Comeback.” Who are they calling old lady?
You can find them all online, but a few of the other returning names are Margaret. Florence, Lucille, Evelyn, Pearl, Lorraine and Virginia. As far as I know none of them grace a sandwich.
Of course many vintage boys’ names are also back in style, including Ralph, Harold, Otis, Raymond, Earl and Howard. I couldn’t help but notice no one called them “old man names.”
Anyway, who knows why names that were once popular come back. Maybe it’s nostalgia. Maybe the name pendulum just naturally swings back and forth from trendy to old-fashioned. Or maybe a new sandwich comes along and suddenly everyone wants their baby named after it.
I’m not sure which came first; the Sloppy Dorothy or the increase in the number of baby girls named Dorothy. What I do know is Dorothy is having a moment. The name, not me. And it’s about time.
Long ago I worked as a newscaster at a radio station. Naturally I was concerned when my boss called me after one of my first newscasts. But he wasn’t calling to correct me as I’d feared. He informed me that from then on he wanted me to call myself Ann when I was on the air.
I don’t recall him explaining why my own name wasn’t good enough. But maybe he thought Dorothy was an “old lady name” too and I had the voice of a 20-something young woman. That was natural since I was a 20-something young woman at the time.
Or maybe he was concerned that no one would take me seriously as Dorothy. Painful as it is to admit, I understand that. Upon telling people my name I hear “Auntie Em, Auntie Em” and “I’m going to get you and your little dog too” so often that I nearly broke into a chorus of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” just now thinking about it.
I’m not complaining. That other Dorothy helps people remember my name and it beats going through life as “old what’s her name.”
But I like to think things will be better for me and the new generation of Dorothys. When we introduce ourselves to someone now, maybe instead of “there’s no place like home,” they’ll say, “You mean like the sandwich?” I couldn’t be prouder.
Dorothy Rosby is the author of “Alexa’s a Spy and Other Things to Be Ticked off About, Humorous Essays on the Hassles of Our Time” and other books. Contact her at www.dorothyrosby.com/contact.