Possible mermaid name/heritage?

[SeaSister]

So, although I'm a long ways yet from being able to afford my own tail, that hasn't stopped me from giving serious consideration to my own mer-name. Now, one thing that I noticed a lot of mers getting asked by kids is "are you a princess?", obviously thinking about Ariel from Disney's version of The Little Mermaid. This got me thinking about the original story (spoiler alert!) where in order to save their sister from certain doom, the little mermaid's five sisters cut off their hair for the sea-witch, in exchange for a knife that, if used to kill the prince, would give her back her tail and tongue. She refused, of course, and died... although her spirit continued to live on as a daughter of the air. So, I happen to have short hair and I thought it would be interesting to identify myself as one of the sisters that had their hair cut by the sea-witch. That way I can say that I'm technically a princess, just not the one that most kids think of.

The problem with this, however, is that I don't think that many kids (especially young ones) know or even want to know about the original tragic story. And I certainly don't want to be the one to destroy their preconceived notions of mermaids based on what Disney has spoon-fed them. But maybe I could just say that I'm Ariel's sister to the younger ones, but explain the full story to older (11, 12 +) kids? I don't know, maybe I just shouldn't bother anyways. I just thought it would be neat. What do you guys think?

[SeaGlass Siren]

Well you coul always go this route. "I cut off my hair and donated it to another mermaid who had cancer". Or "I cut off my hair because my hair made me slower in the water when I catch my food" or "I sold my hair to a sailor who wouldn't let me go"

[SeaSister]

I suppose so, but I just like the idea of tying into the Hans Christen Anderson story. I suppose I could come up with my own "Little Mermaid-related-but-kid-friendly" story. Like I sold my hair to Ursula for the power to shed my tail like a selkie. I dunno, that might be kind of neat.