What's In a Name?
by Shelley Pineo-Jensen, Ph.D.
9/5/25
9/5/25
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3/10/1951 – 8/1970 ~ Shelley Jacques Pineo
8/1970 – 10/1974 ~ Shelley Jacques Kipp 10/1974 – 1/1/1977 ~ Shelley Jacques Pineo 1/1/1977 – 6/2013 ~ Shelley Jacques Jensen 6/2013 – present ~ Shelley Jacques Pineo-Jensen |
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Shelley Jacques Pineo: 3/10/1951 – 8/1970
Born March 10, 1951, I was named Shelley Jacques Pineo. My mother’s sister, my Aunt Donna, told me that my father had wanted to name me “Jacquesborn” to honor my French heritage, but on my birth day, in a taxi on the way to the hospital, she witnessed a strenuous argument between my father and his mother, Liberty Hall AKA Grandma Lib. My grandma said that it was a terrible thing to name a child an odd name like “Jacquesborn” and that he shouldn’t do it. She prevailed, and Jacques became my middle name. My first name became Shelley, after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. My father was into the Romantic poets at that time. I like the poem “Ozymandias” a lot, but other than that I have little interest in the romantic poets.
What my mother thought about my name I never found out. It didn’t come up.
Mr. Moline never liked me, which I assumed was because I was dropped into his class mid-year of eighth grade, having missed nouns and verbs. I was transferred from the dumbo classes to the best ones due to the advocacy of Mr. Judson, my Social Studies teacher. Mr. Judson saw something in me, but I was a hick from Wenatchee, Washington, and Mr. Moline didn’t see any value in me, for whatever reason.
My father suggested I write the required 9th grade term paper about “Ozymandias,” and I figured, why not? I slaved over that damn paper the whole week of spring vacation – it ruined my life, so to speak. Okay it ruined my week. My dad helped me a lot and basically forced me to learn how to write a paper, something Mr. Moline had not bothered with. Parts of speech and diagramming sentences? Sure. But a literary analysis? Not so much.
So, I learned a lot from my father (who was an English teacher at Santa Ana Junior College) and I was proud of the paper. Mr. Moline gave me an “A” but wrote a mean note “Is this really your work?” I have no respect for my Portola Jr. High English teacher, even all these years later (60).
When I am explaining to people how to spell my name, which comes up more often than you might think, I like to mention that I was named after the poet, and they often have no idea what I’m on about. Then I say, “Percy Bysshe Shelley was married to Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein,” and they ALWAYS know her. I like that she is more famous than him, and that people think – oh you’re named after Mary Shelley’s husband.
Shelley Jacques Pineo: 3/10/1951 – 8/1970
Born March 10, 1951, I was named Shelley Jacques Pineo. My mother’s sister, my Aunt Donna, told me that my father had wanted to name me “Jacquesborn” to honor my French heritage, but on my birth day, in a taxi on the way to the hospital, she witnessed a strenuous argument between my father and his mother, Liberty Hall AKA Grandma Lib. My grandma said that it was a terrible thing to name a child an odd name like “Jacquesborn” and that he shouldn’t do it. She prevailed, and Jacques became my middle name. My first name became Shelley, after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. My father was into the Romantic poets at that time. I like the poem “Ozymandias” a lot, but other than that I have little interest in the romantic poets.
What my mother thought about my name I never found out. It didn’t come up.
Mr. Moline never liked me, which I assumed was because I was dropped into his class mid-year of eighth grade, having missed nouns and verbs. I was transferred from the dumbo classes to the best ones due to the advocacy of Mr. Judson, my Social Studies teacher. Mr. Judson saw something in me, but I was a hick from Wenatchee, Washington, and Mr. Moline didn’t see any value in me, for whatever reason.
My father suggested I write the required 9th grade term paper about “Ozymandias,” and I figured, why not? I slaved over that damn paper the whole week of spring vacation – it ruined my life, so to speak. Okay it ruined my week. My dad helped me a lot and basically forced me to learn how to write a paper, something Mr. Moline had not bothered with. Parts of speech and diagramming sentences? Sure. But a literary analysis? Not so much.
So, I learned a lot from my father (who was an English teacher at Santa Ana Junior College) and I was proud of the paper. Mr. Moline gave me an “A” but wrote a mean note “Is this really your work?” I have no respect for my Portola Jr. High English teacher, even all these years later (60).
When I am explaining to people how to spell my name, which comes up more often than you might think, I like to mention that I was named after the poet, and they often have no idea what I’m on about. Then I say, “Percy Bysshe Shelley was married to Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein,” and they ALWAYS know her. I like that she is more famous than him, and that people think – oh you’re named after Mary Shelley’s husband.
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Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said —“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. |
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Shelley Jacques Kipp: 8/1970 – 10/1974
Perhaps it was in August, I don’t recall with any precision, but at some point before my second fall semester started at Cal State Fullerton, I married my starter-husband and took his last name. I was 19 years old and not very romantic; I was living with him in a committed relationship, so it seemed like it would not be harmful to marry. The marriage lasted four years.
It was his idea, just as later, it was his idea to force me out of our business (I could run it or he would, but he wouldn’t be my partner in it anymore.)
It took a year for me to process that the relationship was over, and then I left on a whim (escaping a dark and depressing time for me) and moved to Bellingham, Washington. After a year of fooling around and having fun, I moved back to California in fall of '74 to go back to school and long story short – got back together with my soon-to-be ex-husband. It seemed like he really wanted to get back together with me, but that first day was the high point and the whole thing slowly tapered off into nothingness.
When our divorce paperwork came through, we both signed it, which really surprised Mike Jensen, who was around. Actually, he was one of the housemates of the first husband; he was waiting for me to turn up. When Mike found out I had moved out of state, he wanted to see if he could get together with me. He knew I was the one for him, but he kept that to himself.
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Shelley Jacques Pineo: 10/1974 – 1/1/1977
After the divorce was final, I quickly went back to my maiden name again. I like my birth name.
My divorce gave Mike Jensen hope. I didn’t know he was a-hoping, because his theory was that he would just stand near me and I would figure it out. I noticed that I always felt better when I was standing next to him . . . so the day I broke up with the starter husband, sometime between Christmas and New Years Eve of ’74, I told Mike I would go on a date with him. He agreed and the next evening we went to dinner at Gilda's on the pier, and then a drive-in movie, and then we stayed up most of the night talking, and followed some hanky-panky.
Serial monogamy, don’t cha know.
Mike liked to say that we got married that night, on the occasion of our first kiss on the dock in Santa Cruz, looking across the water at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, on that, our one and only date . . . but the actual official wedding date wasn't until a couple years later. From that first night, we were together. We never did stop talking all the time. Our children used to complain and say we were weird. Maybe we were weird.
He lasted 50 years from that first date; he died on January 15, 2025 (RIP).
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Shelley Jacques Jensen: 1/1/1977 – 6/2013
After two years of shacking up, I married my true love, Michael Grant Jensen, on January 1, 1977. We lived together in a partnership of magic, adventure, travel, children, and lots of talk-talk-talking.
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Shelley Jacques Pineo-Jensen: 6/2013 – present
In June of 2013, I changed my name one more time. Mike encouraged me to go back to school twice. The first time I got a teaching credential and taught (mostly fifth grade) for ten years. Then I went back to University of Oregon to take a Ph.D. in Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership in the Education Department. For a graduation present, the eldest of my two daughters gave me a name change. Mike always said that I wasn’t really a Jensen at heart, that I was a Pineo; he didn’t like his parents but declined to take my family’s name.
So, we were all pretty stoked with me hyphenating my name and I do really love being Pineo-Jensen. I think my name is unique – that no one else in the world is named Shelley Jacques Pineo-Jensen, and it makes a great nickname for my online presence: Dr. P-J.
Shelley Jacques Kipp: 8/1970 – 10/1974
Perhaps it was in August, I don’t recall with any precision, but at some point before my second fall semester started at Cal State Fullerton, I married my starter-husband and took his last name. I was 19 years old and not very romantic; I was living with him in a committed relationship, so it seemed like it would not be harmful to marry. The marriage lasted four years.
It was his idea, just as later, it was his idea to force me out of our business (I could run it or he would, but he wouldn’t be my partner in it anymore.)
It took a year for me to process that the relationship was over, and then I left on a whim (escaping a dark and depressing time for me) and moved to Bellingham, Washington. After a year of fooling around and having fun, I moved back to California in fall of '74 to go back to school and long story short – got back together with my soon-to-be ex-husband. It seemed like he really wanted to get back together with me, but that first day was the high point and the whole thing slowly tapered off into nothingness.
When our divorce paperwork came through, we both signed it, which really surprised Mike Jensen, who was around. Actually, he was one of the housemates of the first husband; he was waiting for me to turn up. When Mike found out I had moved out of state, he wanted to see if he could get together with me. He knew I was the one for him, but he kept that to himself.
---------------------------------------------------
Shelley Jacques Pineo: 10/1974 – 1/1/1977
After the divorce was final, I quickly went back to my maiden name again. I like my birth name.
My divorce gave Mike Jensen hope. I didn’t know he was a-hoping, because his theory was that he would just stand near me and I would figure it out. I noticed that I always felt better when I was standing next to him . . . so the day I broke up with the starter husband, sometime between Christmas and New Years Eve of ’74, I told Mike I would go on a date with him. He agreed and the next evening we went to dinner at Gilda's on the pier, and then a drive-in movie, and then we stayed up most of the night talking, and followed some hanky-panky.
Serial monogamy, don’t cha know.
Mike liked to say that we got married that night, on the occasion of our first kiss on the dock in Santa Cruz, looking across the water at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, on that, our one and only date . . . but the actual official wedding date wasn't until a couple years later. From that first night, we were together. We never did stop talking all the time. Our children used to complain and say we were weird. Maybe we were weird.
He lasted 50 years from that first date; he died on January 15, 2025 (RIP).
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Shelley Jacques Jensen: 1/1/1977 – 6/2013
After two years of shacking up, I married my true love, Michael Grant Jensen, on January 1, 1977. We lived together in a partnership of magic, adventure, travel, children, and lots of talk-talk-talking.
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Shelley Jacques Pineo-Jensen: 6/2013 – present
In June of 2013, I changed my name one more time. Mike encouraged me to go back to school twice. The first time I got a teaching credential and taught (mostly fifth grade) for ten years. Then I went back to University of Oregon to take a Ph.D. in Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership in the Education Department. For a graduation present, the eldest of my two daughters gave me a name change. Mike always said that I wasn’t really a Jensen at heart, that I was a Pineo; he didn’t like his parents but declined to take my family’s name.
So, we were all pretty stoked with me hyphenating my name and I do really love being Pineo-Jensen. I think my name is unique – that no one else in the world is named Shelley Jacques Pineo-Jensen, and it makes a great nickname for my online presence: Dr. P-J.
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