What’s in a Name … Louisiana Blue

I’ve always been astounded by how much the names we call people, i.e. “nicknames,” can be so different from a person’s given, legal name.

Sometimes there are good reasons for nicknames. When I entered first grade way back in 1967, there were FIVE “Mikes” in my class! Out of just 28 kids. Naturally, I became “Bertaut,” which ultimately was shortened to “BURR-DOE,” which I was stuck with all the way through high school. Even today, when I reconnect with my old high school friends, the name sticks.

In Cajun-land, where I grew up, it was popular to pass family names down to male children. But instead of calling them “Junior” or “the Second,” the parents would call the baby “Petit + name.” In English, that’s “Little + name.” Petit would get shortened to just “T-” in front of their name. So, Joseph Jones Jr., became “T-Joe.” Somewhere along the way my friend Norman Boudreaux Jr., became “T-Noon.” Only in Louisiana!

In 2004, our family moved from Baton Rouge into Ascension Parish.  My children were just 7, 9, and 14 years old when we moved. They made fast friends with tons of neighborhood kids, and I began to learn their names… “Bubba,” “Fats,” “Gator.” The list went on and on. Once, I asked my son if any of these kids had real names, and he just smiled and said “Yeah, when the teacher is mad at them!”

Nicknames. Sometimes here in Ascension I figured they gave them out at birth!

Blue Cross Is Getting a New Nickname

Now, I’m happy to announce it’s our turn. If you are a customer of Blue Cross here in Louisiana, you officially do business with the Louisiana Health Service & Indemnity Company, and/or Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, or HMO Louisiana, Inc.  Talk about a mouthful!

How about we just boil that all down to what you really WANT to call us anyway: Louisiana Blue. In reality, we get called “Louisiana Blue” all the time. So from now on, we are going to put our Louisiana focus first and embrace that identity.

It’s been made clear to us the past few years that our customers want a locally owned and controlled, not-for-profit but tax-paying entity managing their health insurance costs. As long as Louisianians continue to trust us with about $8 billion of their money every year, making sure it is available to pay for healthcare services that they could never afford to pay on their own when they need them, we must continue to build that trust circle between us.

Over the next few months, you’re going to see our nickname much more often, in ads, on our websites, even in our email addresses. We’re going from long strings of letters—sometimes Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, sometimes BCBSLA, sometimes just Blue Cross—to simply being known as Louisiana Blue. It’s quite a relief, actually.

The Straight Talk is, we don’t need any fancy titles or long names to serve you. Just call us who we are: Louisiana Blue (for you).