I changed my name to Kricket. I didn't feel like Ashley represented me, and it's a nod to my maiden name.

• Kricket Bushnell legally changed her name from Ashley Krick when she wed. Kricket was her nickname.
• She wanted the cute version of her family name to be included in her new name after marriage. 
• The teacher cried when she got her name change certificate since Kricket paid tribute to her dad.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kricket Bushnell. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I was born a month early on my mother, Nancy Krick's birthday in 1989. Her parents were in town to celebrate what was supposed to be her last birthday before she became a mother.

My grandfather got to hold me when I was just a few hours old. It was partly because I was premature that I was born with asthma. I had a real chirp in my lungs.

It was down to my chirping and a play on my last name, Krick, that my grandfather said, "She's my little cricket."

My parents named me Ashley because they liked it, and it was easy to spell. It wasn't until I went to elementary school that we realized that Ashley had been a popular name in 1989.

Over the years, at least one other Ashley was always in my class. I was outgoing but didn't feel like I stood out when I wanted to.

I wanted a new beginning

When I graduated from high school, the valedictorian's name was Ashley Michelle. We even shared a middle name.

Meanwhile, as I went through grade school, I earned the nickname Kricket. I thought it was far cooler than Ashley and developed an attachment. My parents and teachers never used it, but I was delighted when my close friends did.

Then, on my first day at college in another state, the girls in charge of the dorm hall had put plaques with our names on everybody's door.

But I wanted a new beginning where nobody knew me. I put a line through Ashley and wrote Kricket instead.

After that, the name stuck. Nobody called me Ashley, apart from some of the professors. People sometimes asked why I had the name of an insect, or a popular sport overseas, but they understood when they realized my last name was Krick.

During my student teacher training, I referred to myself as Kricket, and it made me happy. In 2019, a few months before I turned 30 and was also getting married, Mom had an idea.

She told my dad she would gift me by officially calling me Kricket. Dad wasn't so keen and said he couldn't do the same. But he changed his mind when she told him how emotional and thankful I'd been for her blessing.

My parents' blessing meant they respected me as a woman

I'm an only child, and was sad that I wouldn't carry the name forward. But I didn't want to be Kricket Krick. So, I applied to legally change my name Kricket Bushnell — Bushnell was my future husband's last name — a few weeks before our wedding. The court fee was only $40.

I cried when I received the name change certificate in the mail. The tears were because my parents could have called me whatever they wanted and stuck to Ashley. But now it felt like they respected me as a woman, not just their daughter.

Sadly, my father passed away in 2021. It gave me some comfort that, as Kricket, I was honoring him by taking part of his name.

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