A Rose by Any Other Name … Well, Maybe Not ANY Other Name!

Margaux Hemingway

While recently browsing the wine aisles, I spotted several moderately priced bottles of Margaux (but not Chateau Margaux, the queen of all wines in that exceptional appellation d’origine, which commands a correspondingly exceptional price).

Like many other incidents in life, this find somehow prompted my brain to shift to a new, but only distantly related, track. Margaux – among the finest wines from France’s Bordeaux region – inspired the name of a granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway.

The girl’s parents had named their baby Margot, using the conventional spelling of the name, but when the young lady – later to become a “supermodel” and actress – discovered that her name had been inspired by the wine her mom and dad were drinking the night she was conceived, Margot transformed herself into Margaux.

As a name, it seems to me, Margaux is as elegant as her namesake wine.

However, I think she was lucky her parents hadn’t been enjoying a Gewurztraminer that evening. Gertie just doesn’t have the same ring to it!