When I was a little kid I used to look on the racks and racks of keychains that were in gas stations and at the mall. I’d look and look (and I admit, I still do it to this day) but I was always really bummed out to never find my name among the rows of names like “Jane”, “Susan”, and “Debbie”.
The meaning of names are a big deal in my family.
We have nicknames and endearments for everything and everyone. It’s almost an affront if we don’t give or receive one of some sort if we have a personal relationship with you.
I blame my father.
I will say right up front that I a lot of my personality traits come from my dad.
(I even look like him.) (Which, really, does nothing to ease the thought in my head that I look like a dude.)
My dad is pretty much single handedly responsible for all the name weirdness that has gone on with us through the years.
While I love a good nickname (I still laugh riotiously that one of my good friends named her goldfish “Leotha” and “Verdeena” after two of my aunts when we were in college), my father names EVERYTHING. Oatmeal cookies are “Gildas” if they have Cocoa in them they become “Gorillas”.
When I say my family has nicknames for everything?
WE DO.
There was quite a nosy neighbor that used to live in my parent’s neighborhood. My father ALWAYS called her “VAL”. One day “Val” made the comment: “I don’t think that your father knows my name isn’t really “Val.”
All of us had more tact than to tell her “Val” was short for “Valkyrie Maiden”.
My dad’s nickname for me was much kinder, though sometimes I wonder why he didn’t just name me “Jill” since that is pretty much all he calls me. I can’t say as I can complain overly since my sister, Melinda, has the moniker “Frog” and twin sister got stuck with the name “Anna Maria Stanzetti”.
(SEE? I TOLD YOU HE WAS WEIRD.)
(But in a freakishly good way.)
(Like, because of him I was able to recite “The Jabberwocky” in Kindergarten for show and tell and then in first grade I explained “taxation without representation” to my class, which my father illustrated and explained every time he took us to a trip we earned to McDonald’s for an ice cream cone by taking a big freaking bite of it first.)
(And like I can talk. I gave my brother the nickname “Bradley Brown Burrito Socks”, so ya know…I got no room to judge.)
(And like I said, I had to come from somewhere, right?)
(I would also like to add that I was still in high school in the above photo and I take grooming my eyebrows MUCH MORE SERIOUSLY NOW.)
My dad is also a MAJOR Gone With the Wind fan.
Like, huge.
He named his first two children “Rhett” and “Melanie”. (As a side note, my maiden name is “Mitchell” and my nephew married a girl named Margaret. My father about died of bliss when a Margaret Mitchell joined the clan. Heh.)
When my twin sister and I were born he wanted to name us “Scarlett” and “Vivien”, but my mother put her foot down and we became “Loralee” & “Loraina”, instead.
The name “Loralee” is a variation of “Lorelei” which is basically the siren-harpy-mermaid-like-chick that sits on a rock and when she sings, she lures sailors to their deaths with her voice. (Which I actually always thought was cool since I thought I would be making a living singing on a stage for a living.)
Or, you can believe the other definition of “Loralee”, which is said to translate from the bay, or laurel plant. ”
In the ancient world, laurel leaves were used to fashion the crowns of victorious athletes, poets and soldiers. As the Roman poet Ovid explains, this practice had its origins in the story of the god Apollo’s pursuit of the beautiful nymph Daphne. Scorning his advances, she ran from him until he overcame her. She called on Peneus the river god for help, and he transformed her into a laurel tree. Apollo still loved her, and took her leaves as his special symbol. As he was the god of poetry, music, science and just about every other human accomplishment, laurel crowns came to be used to adorn Apollo’s champions.
(I have no pictures of me either being turned into a tree or being chased by a ridiculously talented and insanely hot Greek God, so I had to make due with wearing a flower and call it good.)
So, according to this, I have a choice between singing while half-naked on a rock and luring Navy dudes to their deaths or going all Lord of the Rings Ent Party! and turning into a tree to get away from some hot-dude-turned-quasi-predator that can’t seem to take no for an answer and takes creepy satisfaction of plucking my leaves to use as his special trophy through the ages.
WHEE!
Oh, well.
Brushing aside the fact that I seem to be fated to have REALLY SUPER AWESOME LUCK WITH MEN, I can at least say that my name is steeped in “MORBIDLY INTERESTING”.
When it came to naming my children, I decided to go with names that were plain, sturdy and way more likely to be found on a keychain than my own name.
With James, his father refused to consider any name other than “Phineus” from A Separate Peace. (Which was a GREAT book but dude, I was naming my first born that over my dead, cold body.) When I was 8-months along, he asked how I felt about “James” after one of his favorite artists, James Christensen. I agreed faster then you could blink and then promptly named the printer on our computer “Phineus” so that the name would be forever taken.
There was no question that Christopher would be named Christopher. I’ve just always loved the name.
Maybe it was Christopher Robin or Kevin Bacon totally emo crying in the waiting room waiting for his kid Christopher to be born during She’s Having a Baby (Seriously, I think I watched this scene a million times with my roomates in college. Kevin Bacon looks so vulnerably adorable crying with his spazzed out Beethoven-esque surgical cap head hair.) , but I just loved the name and it fits my gentle boy to a T.
AND ALSO?
THEIR NAMES ARE JAMES AND CHRISTOPHER.
NOT “JIMMY AND CHRIS” AS MY BROTHER, RHETT, LOVES TO CALL THEM JUST TO PISS OFF HIS LITTLE SISTER.
(ONE DAY I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE!!! I’M NOT ENTIRELY SURE HOW TO GET NAME REVENGE ON A DUDE THAT CALLED HIS DOG “BUDDY THE AMAZING WIENER DOG”, BUT I SHALL HAVE IT, NONE-THE-LESS!)
(I SHOULD PROBABLY STOP TYPING IN ALL CAPS NOW, HUH?!!!)
Matthew, well…Matthew was the truce name between Jonathan and I. It was the only name that either of us didn’t hate. But it fit my fine, red-headed boy so well. And Matthew means “Gift of God”. Which he was. Every single moment we had him here with us.
And then we have our little pat of butter, Aaron.
Jonathan and I were NOT having an easy time with his name. We were both stubbornly deadlocked on a name and it didn’t look like it was ever going to be resolved.
But then something happened.
Jonathan and I were performing in a concert and before we sang, the symphony we were performing with played Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man”.
I’d never heard it live before. I was eleventyhundred months pregnant, sick and miserable, standing under hot lights with swollen feet in an itchy dress and I was transported into a place that was magical.
I don’t actually cry all that often.
Especially on stage.
It’s happened three times, actually.
Once was when I was performing at The Mormon Tabernacle with a full symphony, 2,000 singers and that gorgeous pipe organ opened up full throttle during “Come thou Fount of Every Blessing”, once was singing at the funeral of my son, and the other was when I heard this piece of music.
As I stood there, blinking back tears, I KNEW that the little one kicking in my tummy was supposed to have the name of the man who could compose such a glorious thing and see such magnificence and inspiration in his fellow man.
At the end of the day, I like knowing the meanings and stories behind things. I think it’s one reason I blog…so that all these stories and thoughts and memories are written down and recorded somewhere.
I like it.
And I like my name.
Even if I will never find it on a keychain.
;)
So, what about you?
What’s behind the names in your life?
What does your name mean? http://ow.ly/6Q9bn
Loralee, you do not look like a dude. Defined jaw lines for women are all the rage these days! My wife may well have a more defined jawline than me! http://on.fb.me/qq5TGG Also, I wish my parents had cared more about the meaning of names. I’m stuck at the crossroads. Travis literally means, “stuck at the crossroads.” Lame. Especially when I wonder… Oh @#$% am I at a crossroads right now? Oh, wait, does the meaning of my name even have anything to do with what I do?
Well, because of this I’m intensely sentimental…ok…superstitious about the meaning of names. Yes, I’ve become one of those people that would rather name my son abdulfattah because it means servant of god, as opposed to a more normal name like Calvin(little bald one), Cassandra (entangler of men), or Mara (bitter) that just have outright sucky meanings. (http://yhoo.it/oAkrGm) I’m sorry, but no matter how cool the name sounds, like Travis (OMG so cool) if the meaning is lame it just ruins the name overall.
Yes, I know the kind of jokes my white kids would get for having an Arabian name like that… but there are some great Arabian names like Jaeda, which means goodness. Quite frankly, my wife and I have many Saudi Arabian friends here in Logan and we both feel they are some of the most sincere, genuinely good people we have ever met. I’d love to associate those feelings of goodness entwined in it’s own meaning. No rush though… we’re holding off on the babies for now!
I like to think I’m a man’s man, but yes right now I’m commenting on a mommy blog, I spent two hours in Ikea today, and sadly flipped through People magazine at Smith’s while my wife bought the groceries. Rihanna was looking healthy in her swimsuit, I thought a little chunky at first, then I realized she’s probably not anorexic or airbrushed…then I thought damn she looks good. Wifey agreed. But I do know the art of baby naming is BIG online business, and I’m a much more frequent customer than my wife. Maybe it’s because my wife played on more varsity high school sports teams than I did… not really sure, but thanks a lot for the awesome post Loralee! See you soon.
My two favorite names right now: Jaxon and Trevin. Jaxon (Song of Jack) Goes against everything I just said… but hey, I ain’t worth jack right? Trevon (fair town) also goes against what I just said slightly… but he could go by “Trey,” or even “Trey Vaughn” whilst in France.
If you look like a dude, what are all of us plain janes to do? My name-etymology is pretty fun, I think. Or is it nymology? If that isn’t a word, it ought to be. My grandma hardly even knew her name WASN’T Velda, but her birth certificate said Valda Del Verde. Valda, I’ve heard, is either warrior or ruler (german roots), and Verde is from the spanish Verdad, or truth. Cool idea, mixed geographical origins, and yeah — maybe a bit of a mouthful. She was awesome, though, so een though the name “Velda” was weird growing up and is NEVER on keychains, etc, I’m happy to have it.
I was told repeatedly in junior high that I resemble Joseph Smith. It had an effect, I guess. :)
you do look alot like your dad, but not in a masculine way. you have the same features, but yours are softened to take away that manly look. my sister and oldest brother have the same problem. they look so much alike and both take after my father. unlike me, but i’m kinda grateful. my dad has a very prominent nose.
i wasn’t named by my parents. my aunt named me b/c my parents wouldn’t stop arguing over names. but i kinda wish i’d been named after a great-aunt of mine. she had an awesome name that appears only twice in my entire family – anzerona. it’s really pretty. when i have children, i want to name my little girl that (anzerona shian) and if i have a boy, then i’m going to stick with the family names and go with andrew lee. that way all three of my siblings and both my grandfathers are covered.
We are a strange lot, too. No shortened names like Bill or Mike, but we never call each other by real names either. It’s “Punkin” or “Flossie” or “Bozo.” My dad even calls me “Hammerhead.” We also have a lot of family names floating around.
I do think it’s funny to see all the kids names after people who are famous (Britney, Shania, etc) and wonder if their parents will still like that name 20 years from now. I also marvel at (ahem) interesting spellings of names. Why make it harder on kids?
My name means “wooded/forest/nymph of the woods.” I love my name. Growing up in India, it was unique. I loved the sound and the meaning of it. I used to say if I had a girl, I’d be tempted to name her after me.
My son’s name is Oliver – “peaceful one,” Gary – “spear carrier.” I love the implication – he’s a peaceful guy but he can enforce when he needs to. :)
Oh, Loralee. If there is anything on Earth you DON’T look like, it’s a dude. My name, Louis, means “famous in war”. And I’m not. Thankfully. As I’ve gotten older, and had sons, I find I have no desire to see my sons – or anyone else’s sons, for that matter – die in War. I have become a devout pacifist. And so I am misnamed. My middle name is Charles. You can call me Chuck.
My name is Heather so obviously named for the flower…but how I got the name Heather is kinda entertaining.
I am child number 6 and the 4th daughter so they were running out of girls names they liked. My dad had an ex-girlfriend called Heather and my mum had a nursing school friend called Heather so the name was suggested and stuck. The funny part about it was that mum was delighted dad was letting her name me after her friend and dad was surprised mum didnt mind naming me after an ex-girlfriend! So who I am named after depends who you ask lol.
I could never find the name I went by on a keychain either, though I always looked and still do, too. My given name was sometimes there but Anna does NOT fit me the way my nickname does so I never bought it. I was named for my mom’s nanny and my middle name is my maternal grandmother’s name. I love both names a lot.
We have a really hard time naming our kids, especially coming up with boy names. We started talking about names before we even got married. We both agreed on Peanut’s name easily but couldn’t agree on a boy’s name until a couple of months before we had Wingnut. We now have a name for each and we’ll see what the next one is. We like them to be interesting but not so unique that nobody knows how to pronounce it. We totally shy away from weird spellings. We also want it to be meaningful to us and so far they have been.
I hated my name growing up. HATED IT because it was weird to me. So when we moved to Oklahoma from Texas at age 10 I decided I was going to be Carrie. And it stuck until I was 21 when I went to work with another Carrie. So I decided to be Carrisa. And that’s the same time I met my now husband. Now I can’t imagine not being Carrisa and I get all huffy when people spell it wrong. I was supposed to be Carissa but groggy Mom filled out the birth certificate wrong, but then ended up liking it better that way.
They found my name in a baby book. Mom was throwing out names like Amber and Heather and Dad wasn’t digging it. Then she read off Carrisa and he instantly loved it. I was supposed to be Carrisa Dawn, but after a hard labor and eventual c-section, Dad gave in to Mom and I became Carrisa Ann. Ann is a passed down name on my mom’s side. If I had been a boy I was going to be called Sean Ray.
When my sister came along 2.5 years later, they thought for sure she was going to be a boy and was to be Michael David. Instead she came out a girl so she got named Dawn Rae.
I’ve already started compiling a list of baby names I keep on my iphone. Although I’ve been obsessively naming my future kids since I was 16. I’m sad I had to throw Emma out the window a few years ago when Rachel from Friends named her baby that and everybody jumped on the Emma bandwagon.
If I don’t get to have kids I’m going to be one sad girl.
Yeah, no way you look like a dude.
My name is pretty common, although I did switch from the classic shortened “Debbie” once I hit 40 and in no way resembled a cheerleader anymore, not that I ever did. Just felt like I didn’t want to be in my 70′s and still be called Debbie. Not that there is anything wrong with that name, just didn’t fit me anymore. And, my mother switched my first name at the last minute prior to signing my birth certificate or I would be named Darlene.
My hubs nicknamed me “Gator” early in our marriage and since we live in Florida, it has been widely assumed that I am a fan of the University of Florida Gators, which is NOT the case. Anyway, that nickname came from a silly fight which promptly ended when my hubs told me I was snapping at him like an alligator. Oh well, when you’re called out you just gotta deal with the consequences.
Our oldest is named Matthew and we picked the name for the same reason you did, for the meaning. He has also been a gift to our family. I wasn’t too jazzed when his high school baseball coach started calling him “Matty D.” and that nickname has stood the test of time. Our youngest, a girl, is named Kendall and she, too, has lamented on many occasions on the lack of finding her name on any keychains! She feels your pain.
Those were the best fish names ever! I haven’t been able to purchase fish for myself since then… it’s just too much to live up to!
(Oh,And you would have been Scarlet, for sure!)
For the record, I think you are beautiful – and in no way do you have masculine features.
Rarely has my name been on a keychain, etc. My sister is named Denise and my brothers are James, Thomas and Daniel. Why they got normal names and we girls got unique names, I will never know. As an adult I like my name – as a kid I hated it! I did not want to be different, and the name set me apart. My maiden name was Dion – so “Yvonne Dion-hey that rhymes!” was heard more times than I can count.
My kids are Justin, Brandon, Deanna and Zachary – I wanted names that would not be shortened into a nickname – and the first three are not – Zachary quickly became Zac as it seemed to suit him better. I do get ticked when it is constantly being spelled Zach or Zack – especially by close relatives who should know better.
Husband is Tony – but I call him Poncho – why? Who knows – it just works.
Your dad calling his neighbor VAL for Valkyrie Maiden is one of the funniest things i have read in a really long time! Oh and I get why you might think so but you do not look like a Guy.
Well my name is Melissa. Which my mom got from the song Sweet Melissa. She thought she’d be so original. Yeah. I was born in 1980 and I think it was number 3 on the top 100 list that year. She of course didn’t learn her lesson and named my brother Justin after Justin Heywood from the Moody Blues. Yeah. Not so original. Ha.
However, after my birth my grandpa was so happy, because he was convinced my mom had named me after his grandmother. My mom never knew that the woman’s name had been Malissa. Ha. She let him believe that was the reason.
My name is never on anything either, and my husband has a girl name. So our kids will probably have names along the same vein as yours; we really like Elizabeth (after my mom).
My fave part of today’s post- my dad called his uptight neighbor ‘Val’. She didnt know it was short for ‘Valkyrie Maiden" http://ow.ly/6QFog
I never liked my name, Jamie, I always felt it was a unisex name. Until I found out that my sister and my mother co-named me. My mom wanted me called Joan Marie, and my sister Jamie Sue. So they used one of each. I gotta say, I think I would have like Joan a whole lot less… Plus, my sister chose the name because of a girl she went to school with. She was nice, smart and pretty. I thought that was nice…
My brother and I both got names from our grandparents (first and middle for each of us was pulled from both grandparent sides). For my 2 kids, I have a Benjamin Scott and a Kennedy Elizabeth. Benjamin was the boy name that I was drawn to and Scott is my mom’s maiden name. Kennedy was my Grandmother’s maiden name (I decided when I was in high school that I’d name my girl that) and Elizabeth was my grandmother’s middle name (and mine and a few other relatives’). Surprisingly, my husband and I completely agreed easily on these names. Basically, I just mentioned them and he agreed to them with hardly any conversation. Wish all things went that easily between us…. :-).
Ooh! I love talking about the meanings of names! @looneytunes has a GREAT post about it today. http://t.co/JyCUsDnt
When I was little, I HATED my name. Couldn’t find it on a keychain, shoelaces or anything. Of course, that was the 80′s and EVERYONE else had their names on EVERYTHING. Not bitter.
I tend to give people nicknames a lot too….but usually people I don’t like. For instance, an IT guy at my old job was really annoying and always butting into everyone’s business. I called him Stray Dog because “if you make eye contact or God Forbid, FEED HIM, he will NEVER GO AWAY” People would bark when he was approaching, I don’t think he ever figured out why.
We went through a lot of names when I was pregnant with my son. We chose Seth Daniel because of the strength of both names. He has a lot to live up to :)
The meaning of names by @looneytunes http://t.co/qSkPcoEw
With my first, we were having a hard time finding a boy name that we both liked, and then an Ethan Allen furniture commercial came on and I said “what about Ethan” and my hubbie agreed and that was it. My daughter is named Vivian- not because I was a big Gone With the Wind fan (although people have asked). I think I liked Angelina Jolie’s daughter’s name, but couldn’t talk my husband into the long spelling, so we did Vivian. Even though I found out later that that used to be the way men spelled it in the olden days. It means “lively” though and totally fits my daughter, so I think we did well.
1. You do NOT look like a dude.
2. That is SO cool that Fanfare for the Common Man inspired your son’s name. Copland is on my iPod, partly because of Appalachian Spring (and the variation of Simple Gifts), but most for Fanfare.
And names:
I’m one of eight. My mom didn’t have any of our names until she laid eyes on us. In my case, my grandfather sang “Un Petit Suzanne” to my mom every night when she was a little girl. Of all of us, I think he had a soft spot for me because of the reason behind my name.
Well my m
…my mom is from Hawaii which is how I got my name, but of all the Hawaiian names to pick one I got one that no one can pronounce and is a shrubbery. I’m named after a vine! I hated it when I was little, I still get weirded out when people call out my name, but I’ve never had a nick name or anything else to go by. My middle name is Sheehan so that really isn’t an option either. Oh and my brother is John Edward(goes by Jed) and if I had been a boy I would have been Patrick… So apparently they only wanted to torment a girl with a weird name!
My girls are Avery Charlotte (thought it was pretty, like Charlotte Bronte) & Isabel Rose (after my great grandmother). I get annoyed when people ask if we call her Izzy, or just asume I actually meant to say Isabella and then call her Bella.
I named the baby I lost Carys(means love) Sterling(having value)
If you look like a dude, I’m going gay. Wait a minute, was that my inside voice or my outside voice? Never mind…. :-)
Before I was born, my mom worked with a woman named Beth, and assumed her name was Elizabeth. One day she found out her full name was Bethany. She really liked the name and remembered it when she got pregnant with me. (No special connection to that woman, she just liked the name.) For a long time my parents were planning to name me Wendy Rae, but at the last minute my dad decided he didn’t want anyone thinking they’d named me after his Aunt Wanda, so they changed it to Bethany Ann. (Bethany, by the way, means “house of poverty” or “house of dates,” which is kinda lame, but it’s the town it the Bible where Mary and Martha lived and where Lazarus was raised, which is cool.)
When we were expecting Annalie, we liked the name Hannah, but it was a bit too popular for our tastes. I thought up the name Annalie one night as I was mulling over names before I fell asleep, and then the very next day I ran across that name in a baby name book. It’s a Scandinavian variant of Hannah, which means grace. The second name on our list when Annalie was born was Sophia, which means wisdom. We decided we liked that as a middle name.
When we were looking at names for our second baby, for some reason I was really attracted to named that had something to do with light, and I liked E- names, so Elliora was a perfect fit. Also, it’s similar to Annalie’s name in that it’s unusual but not aggressively odd, and it sounds familiar because it sounds like more common names—Ellie, Eleanor, Lora. Elliora’s middle name, Violet, was actually chosen by her big sister! When we told Annalie we were having a baby, she immediately suggested a series of flower names if it was a girl: Rose, Daisy, Violet, Daffodil. Violet jumped out at us because the spring that we found out we were pregnant, our backyard was covered in violets. And it’s a pretty name. I wish I’d had a camera handy to record the look on Annalie’s face when we told her that we were really, REALLY going to use a name she picked as her sister’s middle name.
Well being that my name is Laura we have a lot of the same meaning behind our names. I was told when my mom was a little girl in church they said it was time to sing and my mom asked my grandma if she could sing Tell Laura I Love Her, so I think that is where my name came from.
I am also a Gone With The Wind freak. It is my favorite movie of all time. My husband asked me to marry him one day while we were snuggling on the couch watching it. So my daughters names are Tara and Katie. I think most people forget that Scarlett O’Hara was actually Katie Scarlett O’Hara.
Oh and Katie is actually Katelyn while Scarlett was Kathryn but since my SIL stole Kathryn for the middle name of one of her girls I had to pick something else so I settled on Katelyn. I don’t believe in naming kids a nickname. Having a nickname is fine but when they get older they may want something a little more traditional to use to apply for college and jobs ya know?
Thank you for sharing and allowing me to share as well. Hope it was at least mildly interesting!
“So, according to this, I have a choice between singing while half-naked on a rock and luring Navy dudes to their deaths or going all Lord of the Rings Ent Party! and turning into a tree to get away from some hot-dude-turned-quasi-predator that can’t seem to take no for an answer and takes creepy satisfaction of plucking my leaves to use as his special trophy through the ages.”
This is the best paragraph penned in a blog. :O)
My name (Elizabeth) means something like Consecrated to God. I have almost always gone by Beth.
As for nicknames I have answered to Gert, Smertz (off some TV show), Betts, Bethie and many more variations on my name, Dink, and in high school one friend called me Maude for a while. Not sure why, but he did. I don’t mind what people call me as long as they are saying it with love — so Maude didnt’ bother me. I called him Fred. :)
My sons are Dalton and Colton. I have no idea what they MEAN, but they are names that I associate with the Wild Wild West — and that’s an era my husband should have lived in.
Their middle names are the middle names of both grandfathers (Edward) and son #2 got Hubby’s middle name (Allen). We love having family names as part of their names — and our boys love knowing why we picked their names.
The photos of you and your dad are interesting. You can see the strong similarity. But he doesn’t look feminine, nor do you look masculine. Neither of you are even androgynous.
My first wife named everything. I played along because it made her happy. Seemed silly to me.
I’ve looked up my name before, I think it is something like He shall increase. ((shrug))
One humorous thing about me and my name. At church there was another Joseph. We were both subdeacons (until he was ordained into the deaconate). We each are married to an Ann. So were were “The subdeacons Joseph and their wives, Ann.” Caused a lot of puzzled looks.
No meaningful stories with any of our names, really, but I did hate my name as a child. I was a bit of a tomboy and Marie sounded too feminine to me. When I was 12 or 13, I found out that if I hadn’t been Marie I would have been Myra. Myra! I’ve appreciated Marie ever since.
And a funny family story: When my aunt was born around 1920, her parents planned to name her Diana. The day they took her to the church to be blessed, there were 3 other baby girls who were also going to be blessed that day. My aunt was number 4. So the first baby was named Diana. The 2nd baby was named Diana. The 3rd baby was named Diana. And my grandpa went to the front and named my aunt Marjorie.
Everyone in my family was named after someone dear to my parents. Doris- was never called that, and had it legally dropped at 18
Lindsay- after a dear family friend who saw my parents through some very challenging times
Geoffrey- after my parent’s best friend who later became “Doris’” Father-in-law….
Me, well, I was what one calls an after thought. I guess all the good names were used up. When I came home I was named “Liza-Bet”. Not Elizabeth, not Elsbeth, but “Liza-Bet”.
My mother brought me into the living room to meet my siblings; then 14,10 and 3 years old. She placed me on Geoffrey’s lap. He looked down and pronounced, “Well, isn’t she a love?”. My parents looked at each other, smiled and henceforth, I was and am, Sheila…or She-love to my family.
My own kids…one because we liked the names for her, and one after my grandfather and hubby’s grandfather (moreover, they are cool names)
My first name is actually Milica. It’s the most popular name in Yugoslavia. How much Slavic blood do I possess in my veins? >.> Probably much closer to 0% than not lol XD. I was named after two very good friends. I won’t reveal my middle name here because the combination is so unique as to make me the only one in the US, and I’d like to at least maintain the illusion of mild anonymity.
My parents chose these names because they couldn’t agree on anything else lol. Well, actually, my dad suggested the names right before I was born and my mom was a wee bit too distracted to disagree. XD Sneaky dad. My sister is Crystal Jade… and I’m Milica (Mill-itz-ah). Quite a contrast aye?
I was almost named: Aurora, Mariah (after the Paint Your Wagon song, like Mariah Carey), Marissa, Elvira (personal fav), or… Jenis Renae (sorry mom *gag*). I think I was at least destined to a name ending in ‘ah’. My sister almost got Rhiannon, but dad veto’d that.
Guess who has power over the naming of the future offspring? I do XD. Though, I did say that we each have to at least sort of like the names in the running. We aren’t trying yet, but we have about 5 names picked out for future pittery pattery feet.
Anyways, my name’s meaning seems to be in a bit of flux. When I started looking less than 10 years ago, there was barely any mention of it online as far as definitions. It seems to mean dear/precious/beloved or ruler. *shrug*
My name took many years to conquer lol. It’s not easy having a name no one can say and will use to mock you. *raises hand for being in the overly sensitive child club* And then I had to grow out of my nickname… (Missy) It’s just not quite me anymore. So now I’m Mil or Mila most of the time. Seems to suit ;D
I was conceived in Italy, but don’t know how far that influenced my parents’ choice to name me Bianca. Think iirc that they knew it would be my name from day one. I didn’t like my middle name, Dominique, so much when I was little, as plenty of kids in school thought it was a boys’ name (Dominic), but I like it now. The meaning of Bianca is actually very relevant to me, as it means “white” in Italian, and I am really extremely pale-skinned. Dominique means either “seventh-born” or “born on a Sunday”, though, and I am neither of those.
For my sister, my parents were originally going to name her Francesca…to which my grandad said “great, I can call her Frankie”…which my parents hated the idea of! Ironically, Frankie would have really suited her. So they gave it to her as a middle name, and then were tossing up between Gina and Gemma for a first name. Gina is an okay name, but does conjure up impressions of a singer who was popular when we were younger (Gina G) so I think my parents are glad they didn’t choose it in the end. Gemma is a prettier name and it (as well as the derivative nickname Gem) does definitely suit her more.
I’m glad we weren’t boys – my parents were going to go for Craig or Lloyd if we had been :/
OK, I need some help here. What the heck is “XD”??? In my primitive male mind when I read “XD” I think something like: http://www.springfield-armory.com/xd.php
Read it sideways and it looks like Cartman from South Park, with the squinting eyes and big smile XD
Ah! A smile. OK. I guess. No idea who “Cartman” is. And I know that Southpark is one of those poorly drawn half hour cartoon shows. Usually pretty vulgar, isn’t it?
My mother named me after a fictional sorceress from a really obscure novel, not so much because she was obsessed with the book, but more because she liked the sound of the name. Also because she was seventeen and had no clue what she was doing. My younger siblings have much more sensible names.
I have yet to manifest any magical powers. I have, however, developed a supernatural tolerance for being asked to repeat my name. And for putting up with being mocked for having a “weird name.” (Which still happens NOW, as an adult, by the way.) But I like my name anyway. I think it suits me.
I named my son Isaac after Isaac Newton, and also because he was a surprise. The name means “Laughter” which is what happened in the Bible when Sarah discovered she was pregnant. I imagine her laughing in a disbelieving, sort of terrified way in the same way I did staring at a surprise, unplanned positive pregnancy test after having been told more than once I’d have trouble getting pregnant.
At the time I chose it, it was like the 457th most popular name in the U.S., and then a year later it rocketed to the top ten and has been popular ever since. So my poor kid is constantly running into (and getting confused with) other Isaacs.
And to think, our whole argument for breaking my husband’s family tradition of Johns (a decision which drew Much Disapproval) was that we didn’t want our kid constantly getting confused with other people.
I love talking about names! Diana (root word means ‘divine’) is the Roman goddess of the moon, turned Greek Artemis, patron of virgins, forests and hunters. So when I tell people my name, I say, “Diana, like the Roman Goddess or the dead Princess… you can decide if I’m more of a goddess or princess type.” I’m very humble and demure about it of course!
We named our boys: Anderson Paul- after both of us, Canon Spencer- after the musical form and after both our brother’s names (and I liked it better than Cameron), and Charles Fisher- after our paternal grandfather’s middle names. I could go on and on for the names of the babies we won’t be having… but I won’t. :)
I thought Spencers were carbines, not cannon. Learn something new every day.
LOL. ;)
Ahem.
Esteemed lady. After a life time of study of the female form, from the top of the head to the tip of the toe, I am an expert in these matters. You do not look like a “dude”. Furthermore, you do not think like one, in the least.
Lest you mispprehend that either of the above is in any way a pejorative statement, I refer you to the talents of Messrs. Rogers and Hammerstein, as set forth in South Pacific: “There is nuthin’ like a Dame, nuthin’ in the world…”
As well your husband knows, the lucky…
It’s my opinion that some of the best peeps come from Lex’s place. :)
Grandpa, same sentiment, but a different song comes to mind for me.
Roy Orbison “Oh, Pretty Woman”
I wasn’t born with the name Adelas, although I’ve gone by that name for so long I think nowadays more people call me by that name than the original!
Adelas is a softening of the word “athelas”. In the Lord of the Rings, athelas is the name of a flower that the High King uses to heal people (specifically, he brings a couple folks who are near death, people he dearly treasures, back to health). In doing so, he fulfills a prophecy that “the hands of the King are the hands of a healer”, as one of the final acts of accepting and stepping into his role as the king of all men.
It’s my daughter’s middle name.
Also, her first name is Rachel, which means “ewe”. Ironically (?) her favorite, can’t-live-without-it lovey is a sheep. I think that’s awesome.
Our daughter enjoyed the name Scooter until she was born. We weren’t telling anybody at all that we knew we were having a little girl until the day. When the hospital sent in the birth certificate the girl’s mother was out of it and asleep. I could have named my little one anything at all. Poor defenseless babe. Yes yes, she got the name her mother wanted and the middle name that I wanted. It is so cool to name a person. Life doesn’t get better than that.
Ok, so I’m named after my dad’s Grandmother Cox. She was Rose Amanda and I am Amanda Rose, although he tried really hard to stick with Mandy, but I’d have nothing to do with it once I hit kindergarten. My sister’s name is Melissa Tyne. I don’t know where he came up with the name Tyne. My other sister is Bethany Mignonne… like the steak. He liked it because he thought it was a sexy name. She hates it. I named my son Linus because I’ve always loved that name. My husband concurred because he’s a computer programmer and the though of naming his child after Linus Travold just tickled him pink. I wanted to give him two middle names… Mitchell Austen… after my Grandpa and his sister’s husband, both whom I admire greatly. We stuck with Linus Mitchell. My daughter is Beatrice Grace. We COULD NOT agree with a girl name. I’d called her Little B from the beginning of knowing I was pregnant so we both reasoned that Bea made sense. We both ended up just loving Grace. My little girl that is due in March will be Charlotte Rose. We are calling her Charlie or Chuck. Don’t ask, it’s my husband’s choice and I like it. My favorite though are two of my cousins. The first one, they couldn’t decide on a middle name, so until he turned 16, he legally was Baby Boy Edwards. He is now, Christopher Robin Cody Lee Edwards. His little brother is Skylar Austen Stephen Thomas Edwards. He always thought it was Skaylar Austen Teemas Thomas Dude-and-a-half. LOL.
Those cousins’ names are full of Win.
I thank God for you Tim! You’re really a God’s gift to the children of our country. God bless you more and your family!!