I'll have you know that Ididn't name a single one of my instruments. They were all named for me by friends.

Dusty Turtle said:

Funny. A banjo named Lola just seems wrong for some reason. Jed, OK, but Lola?And Mr. Fiddles works for acartoon violin. Wally works for me, especially if it's a baritone or bass dulcimer.

Kimberly Moore said:

My dulcimer is technically named Wally (he's made from walnut). However, I usually just call him "my dulcimer" since he's my only one. I suppose if I were to get another dulcimer (or two or three or . . .) I'd start calling them by their names. As far as the gender is concerned, I'm not sure why I refer to my dulcimer as a he. Actually, I refer to my fiddle as Mr. Fiddles. The banjo I play, however, is namedLola.

Dana, can we assume that Curly Sue is a girl and was not inspired by the Shel Silverstein/Johnny Cash song "A Boy Named Sue?"

Dana R. McCall said:

Hi I have never named my dulcimers although I've made 70 some but a friend of mine named the short teartdrop one I make the spud because it is a short kinda fat teardrop with a 21" VSL other wise I just say you know the one I play most of the time or the one I have tuned to G or something like that mayby a name would make more sense.

My baritone's name is Curly Sue because of the really pretty curly maple she is made of.

How about Nutmeg , since Connecticut is the Nutmeg State?

I originally thought it odd to name instruments. I never named by guitar, my 12-string guitar, or my mandolin. But it's easy enough to say "the Guild" or "the 12-string." It's a lot harder to say "my six-string baritone dulcimette by Ron Ewing."

My sense is that folks who have lots of dulcimers give them names, but if you only have one, there is no need. When I was in college I had a cat named TC for "the cat." I saw no reason for a real name since it was the only cat in the household. I only named my first dulcimer when it became my first dulcimer, meaning when I got a second one. When it was the only one I had, it was just "my dulcimer."

But my question here is about gender. Why is your bike female? Why are most dulcimers female? Maybe they are not. The hourglass shape definitely seems feminine to me, but a teardrop? I don't know.

And what about Jim's football-shaped dulcimer? Maybe he should call it "Jim Pluck-it." [For those who don't know, Jim Plunkett was a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback with Stanford University who went on to win two Super Bowls with the Oakland Raiders back in the 70s and early 80s.]

B. Ross Ashley said:

That's odd, I never thought to name my dulcimer ... my bike is Madama Butterfly, because she is an Italian/Taiwanese hybrid (a Bianchi Boardwalk, built in Taiwan about 1987.) I probably ought to name the dulci. Hmmm. It's a stock Connecticut-built 1989 Folkcraft cherry teardrop.

Cherry Poptart? Yeah, right.

There's got to be a name in your description, Judy: "beautiful honey blond buttery color." That sounds like a girl to me.

Judy said:

Got one named Mae for Mae West. An early Berg with a very curvaceous body and wasp waist. Other than that, I have Magic, Comet, Thistle, Dearheart, Irish, Ivy (ivy leaves for soundholes) Flame, Flair, Starbright etc. These are all based on the soundhole pattern.

Please don't be offended. It's late andI'm a goofball.

Today my daughter said to me, "Daddy, I think you should give at least one of your dulcimers a boy's name. They can't all be girls." (Let's see, Rosa, Queenie, Lucinda, well she's a tomboy . . . )

If she were older, I might have responded, "But the curves, honey, the curves are just so . . . so . . . voluptuous and alluring."

And whoever said "Dragonfly" was a girl anyway?

And she named her dulcimer (an Eedy Beede with dolphin sound holes) "Splash!" A splash ain't got no gender, does it?

Among those of you who name your dulcimers, have you chosen male names, female names, or a combination? Has anyone stuck to those gender-neutral names like Carmen, Pat, Chris, or Alex?

Guitars have always been hermaphroditic, with a female body and a phallic neck. What about dulcimers? (And don't get me started on trombones!)