The Reader's Digest version goes something like
this: While Dad was in WWII, he saw some Dutch movie about two sisters in the
underground. One of the sisters was named Keetje (pronounced Kee-chee) and it
must have been a heck of a movie because when my older sister was born they started
calling her Keetje, even though they hadn't actually named her that (birth certificates
were subsequently changed). When I came along two years later, my mom was not
to be outdone. She called the Dutch embassy and asked for a list of Dutch names.
From this list, she just picked one she liked: Trijntje (pronounced sort of like
Tran-cha, but you really need to hear a Dutch-speaker say it). She was quite proud
to have come up with a name that didn't lend itself to a nickname but was outdone
by my uncle Vic, who quite quickly came up with the nickname Trink to avoid the
seeming flood of consonants in my real name. The rest is history and I have the
distinction of having almost everyone remember me by my first name only.
