The Cherry Ames Page: A Cherry by Any Other Name

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A Cherry by Any Other Name

"Where did you get that lovely first name?" Martha Logan asked.

"My parents gave it to me," Cherry said with a straight face, and her patient whooped with laughter. Then Cherry explained she was "sort of named after her grandmother Charity, Cherry for short."

----From Cherry Ames, Companion Nurse, p. 15

Poor Cherry Ames evidences considerable confusion about just how she got her colorful name--and even about whether Cherry is her real name or just a nickname.

What's in a Name?

Though Cherry generally claims to be named for her maternal grandmother, Charity Anderly, sometimes the books say her coloring earned her the name Cherry. For example, note the descriptions in Senior Nurse--"cheeks and lips so red they had earned her her name" (p. 2)--and in Dude Ranch Nurse--"her cheeks, which had earned her her nickname, were the color of American Beauty roses" (p. 5).

Wherefore Art Thou, Cherry?

What does the name Cherry mean? And how popular has it been over the years? Click here to read more!

She does use Cherry as her legal name in the Army Nurse Corps, as evidenced by both her official orders to report (Army Nurse) and her citation for meritorious service (Flight Nurse).

Soon after Cherry meets Dr. Hal Miller, the county health officer with whom she works in Iowa, he asks her: "Did those cherry-red cheeks win you your name?" She responds, "No, I'm named for my grandmother. My coloring turned out to be sort of--uh--an appropriate accident" (Rural Nurse, p. 8).

But when she was taking care of cranky old Mrs. Harold Blair in Arizona, who complained that Cherry shouldn't be wearing rouge while on duty, because Mrs. Blair was highly allergic to cosmetics, Cherry, protesting her innocence, told a different story: "But I'm not wearing rouge. This is my natural color. It's why I was given the nickname of Cherry" (Dude Ranch Nurse, pp. 57-58).

Likewise, when imperious heiress Nanine Underwood asks permission to call Cherry by her first name, Cherry readily acquiesces: "I love being called by my nickname. It's because of my red cheeks, you know" (Rest Home Nurse, p. 67).

Presenting Lily Ames?

Cherry's name is simple and should be easy to remember, what with those famous cherry-red cheeks as a reminder. But, amazingly enough, not everyone finds Cherry instantly memorable. Though he met her at a staff meeting for summer camp personnel only a few days before--and she certainly noticed him--Reed Champion doesn't quite recall who she is:

"I'm awfully sorry but I can't remember your name except that it's some kind of fruit." He actually blushed.

"It's Cherry, but sometimes I think Tutti-Frutti would be easier for people to remember."

"Tutti for short?" (Camp Nurse, p. 19)

Often, if Cherry is looking a little pale and wan, generally from overwork, she's threatened with a name change, as when Charlie teases, "If you don't get those red cheeks back soon, Nurse Ames, we'll have to change your name to Lily" (Cruise Nurse, p. 6), or when Wilk Wilkinson says, "If you don't watch out, lady, you'll soon have a new nickname and it'll be Lily instead of Cherry" (Clinic Nurse, p. 31).

When Cherry is newly arrived at Graham General Hospital, fellow nurse Sal Steen attempts to play a friendly prank involving her name and the names of her friends, but Cherry catches on:

The girl smiled. "Is your name really Cherry?" she asked with interest. ...

Cherry leaned past Sal and looked intensely into their three faces. She stared at them until their eyes grew almost frightened. In ominous tones Cherry whispered:

"No. My name isn't Cherry Ames. I'm really Mad Katie the Ax Killer." (Veterans' Nurse, pp. 26-27)

But when she's not pretending to be Mad Katie, she might be confused with another notable nurse--especially when handsome young Dan Clyde is trying to flatter her:

He took her hand and bowed gallantly, his eyes twinkling. "You are an angel, Miss Ames. Is the full name Florence Nightingale Ames, perchance?"

"No, she replied, her own black eyes twinkling. "Cherry." (Rest Home Nurse, p. 77)

Then again, sometimes she seems to exchange her nurse's cap for a deerstalker hat, as Peter Hodges notes in "Bermuda Adventure": "Miss Sherlock Holmes Ames, ... you have just solved a jewel robbery that has had the combined police forces of North America, South America, Europe, and all the way stations in between biting their nails and beating their heads against stone walls" (p. 35).

Once, while working in Iowa, Cherry briefly disguises herself and assumes an alias to help set a trap for an unscrupulous peddler selling a dangerous remedy; neighbor Phoebe Grisbee introduces her to Old Snell as "My cousin, Hettie Grisbree. She's from Missouri--Leadville--on the other side of the river. She came over today to visit me" (Rural Nurse, p. 146).

The Right Name

But the name is Cherry, and she generally lives up to it, as Granny Smith notes. Granny, the aged matriarch of a Kentucky family in isolated and backward Heartbreak Hollow, is suspicious of new-fangled medicine, but she takes a liking to Cherry Ames and appreciates her name:

The old woman leaned closer to inspect Cherry's face. "My," she cackled, "hain't you the rosy-jawed lady!" Niver did see the like. Why, you're the color o' them strawberry neckerchers I sold the city feller t'other day. ... Red's my favrit color, an' in my jedgment you're as purty as the blossoms on a redbud tree. What might your name be, gal?"

"Cherry."

This brought forth a loud cackle of laughter. "Your mammy shore knowed what she was a-doen when she give you that un!" (Mountaineer Nurse, p. 39)

Sara, a young Kenyan woman whom Cherry trains to nurse patients in her remote African village, notes simply, "Cherry. That is a nice name" (Jungle Nurse, p. 60). But it's little Timmy Crane who has the final word on Cherry's name, and he gets directly to the heart of the matter: