pay one's dues

Earn something through hard work, long experience, or suffering. For example, She'd paid her dues in small-town shows before she finally got a Broadway part. This expression transfers the cost of being a paid-up member in an organization to that of gaining experience in an endeavor. [Mid-1900s]

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Alby	-	Irish
Frigg	FRIG	Norse Mythology
Randall	RAN-dəl	English
LemminkÄInen	-	Finnish Mythology
Ena (2)	-	Croatian
Seweryn	se-VE-rin	Polish