My parents, I believe, named me together. However, I think my dad really loved the name and was advocating for it. Then, my mother had more of a say about how the name would be spelled.
Since this name is constantly misspelled, she says that she wanted me to be a “ten” and not a scrap of “tin.” At least that was her logic, which thanks for the self-esteem boost, Mom!
When I was a kid, I had this strange desire to just have the letter “A” in my name. Probably because I thought it would get me closer to the top of lists. I don’t remember ever wanting to change or alter my name. I get annoyed now when people spell it wrong, but I have dealt with that my whole life.
By the way, the only way I ever got an “A” in my name was when it was translated into Spanish, which is just, “Kristina.”
This one is easy. My mom named me after her sister. It was only the two of them and my mom was the younger one. I think she really looked up to and loved her sister. Bonus was my middle name is the same as my paternal grandmother’s name so she thought my mom picked it because of her. Mom just let her think that. 😂 I like my name as there aren’t many of us. I’m super grateful my mom didn’t pick Jennifer or Michelle as there are a million of those among GenX.
My parents wanted a goddess name for me, something like Aphrodite, so my grandma thought she should intervene. She chose my name because she had heard a friend of hers calling her granddaughter THE name and she absolutely loved it. My parents loved it too and added a middle name - my mother's name, but I didn't really use that one. Only once in my very early twenties when I think I wanted something like a new "identity" and thought I could start by switching to the middle name. It didn't work however... I just couldn't find myself in the 'other' name, maybe because it was my mother's and at that time, identifying myself with mom was the last thing on my list.
The name I would have chosen for me is the name I gave to my daughter, Iris... I absolutely love it.
P.S. sorry for the grammar errors or misspelling, English is not my first language :)
Crazy good timing on this one, as I've never really known or thought to ask. However, April 6th was my parents 50th(!) wedding anniversary. I asked about it during dinner tonight. My mom got a pretty good laugh out of it when I asked, "But why am I Jacob?"
Turns out, it's sort of a bland story. No family history of my name or some teacher that left a life long impression. Come to find out my dad wanted to name me with a 'J' first name and a 'R' second name so I could go by J.R. He was a big fan of Dallas back in the day.
My mom poo pooed the idea because she, in her words, "didn't want me to be named after a total prick."
That's how Jacob Dillon came to be. Around 14 years old I stared going by Jake because I thought it sounded cooler. There was this show in the 90's called Melrose Place. The cool guy on the show i.e. the leather jacket wearing motorcycle riding bad ass was Jake. I thought, "Oh yeah, that's where it's at!"
Turns out going by Jake DIDN'T make me cooler. It only set me up for a million 'Jake from State Farm' jokes years later.
I am the youngest, and the only girl. I think my parents had resigned themselves to having another boy, so didn't think too seriously about a female name until I was born. Then, they put it to my brothers. It was a split between 'Laura' because they had been reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and 'Melanie', which ultimately won. Melanie is derived from the Greek 'black'... sometimes 'ink'. My middle name is 'Kate', which means 'pure', so I like to think tell people that I'm 'pure black'.
I didn't like my name as a child, and wanted to be Olivia from Basil the Great Mouse Detective, and later, April O'Neill from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In adulthood, I quite like my name. I would teach it to my non-native English speaking students as 'Melon' (gestures shape of a melon), 'Knee', (taps on knee). When I visit a coffee shop, I avoid misspellings, by saying ' It's Mel... M-E-L.'
In America, I can introduce myself as Melanie, but within five minutes, everyone's referring to me as 'Mel'. In England, people ask before shortening your name, but I'm not particularly precious about what I'm called. My eldest brother refers to me as 'Mezza' or 'Mez'. When I was in my 20s, he would find out where I was temping, call me on the work phone and scream 'Meeezzzzzzzzaaaaa!' at me. Brothers can really be a pain in the arse.
My parents, I believe, named me together. However, I think my dad really loved the name and was advocating for it. Then, my mother had more of a say about how the name would be spelled.
Since this name is constantly misspelled, she says that she wanted me to be a “ten” and not a scrap of “tin.” At least that was her logic, which thanks for the self-esteem boost, Mom!
When I was a kid, I had this strange desire to just have the letter “A” in my name. Probably because I thought it would get me closer to the top of lists. I don’t remember ever wanting to change or alter my name. I get annoyed now when people spell it wrong, but I have dealt with that my whole life.
By the way, the only way I ever got an “A” in my name was when it was translated into Spanish, which is just, “Kristina.”
This one is easy. My mom named me after her sister. It was only the two of them and my mom was the younger one. I think she really looked up to and loved her sister. Bonus was my middle name is the same as my paternal grandmother’s name so she thought my mom picked it because of her. Mom just let her think that. 😂 I like my name as there aren’t many of us. I’m super grateful my mom didn’t pick Jennifer or Michelle as there are a million of those among GenX.
My parents wanted a goddess name for me, something like Aphrodite, so my grandma thought she should intervene. She chose my name because she had heard a friend of hers calling her granddaughter THE name and she absolutely loved it. My parents loved it too and added a middle name - my mother's name, but I didn't really use that one. Only once in my very early twenties when I think I wanted something like a new "identity" and thought I could start by switching to the middle name. It didn't work however... I just couldn't find myself in the 'other' name, maybe because it was my mother's and at that time, identifying myself with mom was the last thing on my list.
The name I would have chosen for me is the name I gave to my daughter, Iris... I absolutely love it.
P.S. sorry for the grammar errors or misspelling, English is not my first language :)
Crazy good timing on this one, as I've never really known or thought to ask. However, April 6th was my parents 50th(!) wedding anniversary. I asked about it during dinner tonight. My mom got a pretty good laugh out of it when I asked, "But why am I Jacob?"
Turns out, it's sort of a bland story. No family history of my name or some teacher that left a life long impression. Come to find out my dad wanted to name me with a 'J' first name and a 'R' second name so I could go by J.R. He was a big fan of Dallas back in the day.
My mom poo pooed the idea because she, in her words, "didn't want me to be named after a total prick."
That's how Jacob Dillon came to be. Around 14 years old I stared going by Jake because I thought it sounded cooler. There was this show in the 90's called Melrose Place. The cool guy on the show i.e. the leather jacket wearing motorcycle riding bad ass was Jake. I thought, "Oh yeah, that's where it's at!"
Turns out going by Jake DIDN'T make me cooler. It only set me up for a million 'Jake from State Farm' jokes years later.
I am the youngest, and the only girl. I think my parents had resigned themselves to having another boy, so didn't think too seriously about a female name until I was born. Then, they put it to my brothers. It was a split between 'Laura' because they had been reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and 'Melanie', which ultimately won. Melanie is derived from the Greek 'black'... sometimes 'ink'. My middle name is 'Kate', which means 'pure', so I like to think tell people that I'm 'pure black'.
I didn't like my name as a child, and wanted to be Olivia from Basil the Great Mouse Detective, and later, April O'Neill from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In adulthood, I quite like my name. I would teach it to my non-native English speaking students as 'Melon' (gestures shape of a melon), 'Knee', (taps on knee). When I visit a coffee shop, I avoid misspellings, by saying ' It's Mel... M-E-L.'
In America, I can introduce myself as Melanie, but within five minutes, everyone's referring to me as 'Mel'. In England, people ask before shortening your name, but I'm not particularly precious about what I'm called. My eldest brother refers to me as 'Mezza' or 'Mez'. When I was in my 20s, he would find out where I was temping, call me on the work phone and scream 'Meeezzzzzzzzaaaaa!' at me. Brothers can really be a pain in the arse.