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With both my parents being teachers, my parents chose a name that neither have encountered in their classrooms. My last name is a southern Italian with my dad's side of the family originating in Calabria.

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The reason I was called Ryan was simply because my mother liked the name. The original choice was Daniel, but my mother did not want me confused with a writer by the name of Daniel Steele. So Daniel became my middle name and Ryan was chosen instead. I really like my name and have come to learn that my name is Irish in origin and means "Little King"!

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My name didn't come from any rich, historical source, but it was a name that my mother called me to reflect my gender, apparently (she wanted to call me Leslie, but coming from an Irish heritage, was told that people might mistake me for a male!). I didn't get to discuss in my group, but my name comes from Cecile, who is the Patron Saint of Music, apparently; I love music, so this is interesting.

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I was nameless for the first 48 hours because I didn’t look like the name my parents had in mind (which was Robin at the time). My grandma offered up her favorite actress’s name: Alicia. My parents liked it, chose it and changed the spelling to be a bit more unique.

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I was originally supposed to be named Tekeria (not sure the spelling but pronounced Tuh-key-rah). My mom really wanted a "unique" name that she did not hear much and had this name set in stone up until the day of my delivery. Once I was born, my father and sister decided to voice their opinion and say that they do not like the name and that I look more like a Jessica. They argued back and forth for a bit and because my mom was so exhausted after the delivery she let them name me Jessica. This story may sound negative but to me, it is funny because I can just imagine how this moment all played out. I have grown into my name and could not imagine having another.

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Though there is no meaning behind my first name other than the fact that both of my parents really liked the name Madeline, my middle name Marie is significant as both of my grandmothers names are Maria.

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In the Italian Heritage we are typically named after our Grandfathers. The first name is taken from the Fathers side while the middle name is taken from the Mothers side. I am a twin and having a sister named Caprice, my parents wanted to have one unique name as well a name in the family that continues the tradition of passing down.

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How I got my name is quite simple. My dad was not a fan of the name for my sister who is 3 years older but my mom always really liked the name Lauren. So when I was born, my dad liked it.

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As the first born in my family, my parents had a difficult time finding me a name. Following tradition, I should have been named after my paternal grandmother. As my parents were born in Canada and were wanting to change names in the family, they decided on the name Laura.

Colacci is a southern Italian name. I believe it comes from a pastry called colac. Colac are pastries filled with jam and nuts traditionally eaten on celebratory days in Molise.

https://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Colac.html

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My name Ladan is actually pronounced differently in my mother tongue because the phonetic pronunciation of the letter /dhal/ does not have an equivalent in the English language so my parents replaced the letter with a /d/. My name Ladan means peace and contentment in my mother tongue which is Somali. It means that one does not desire more and is grateful and happy with what they currently have. My last name Issa is the name Jesus in Arabic.

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My whole life I've gone by Brandon, but the reality is that this is my middle name. My true first name is Argemino, and Brandon was a more westernised middle name given to my by my parents. My parents would register me in school and sports with this name to have an "easier time" in school. I do not know the origins of the name Argemino, I still have yet to meet another Italian person with this name, but Brandon comes from Irish decent.

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After having two sons, my parents were convinced that their third child was also going to be a boy so they were pretty attached to the name Cameron. Surprise, surprise I came along so they had to reevaluate and consider more traditional female names, however, they ultimately decided on keeping the name but just switching the spelling to be the 'feminine version'. Also fun fact, Camryn means crooked nose in Gaelic.

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I wish I had a more exciting story for how I got my name, but the only family relation is my middle name, Marie. My mothers middle name is Marie, so I believe if I have a daughter one day I would carry on that middle name. Growing up I thought it was the greatest thing that my name could be spelled frontwards and backwards, not many people could do that!

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I had a name change done this summer. My original first name does have Angel in it, which my mum chose because I was her "blessing" when she was told she could not have children due to PCOS; my mum went on to have my 3 other siblings! I'm grateful to exist knowing I was born by the intentions of the universe. I have experienced numerous white-supremacist micro-aggressions with my birth-given last name of Chilean origin, and a disgusting privilege with my Italian first name in so many instances within my dominantly Italian community of origin; by 'disgusting privilege', I imply that I became b;atantly white-passing and "acceptable", and I am treated much kinder than those with names that are not white or romanticized European names.

I chose the name Angel because I do not resonate with the concept of being immediately adhered to as feminine, and Italian. I'm non-binary, and it's uncomfortable to identify in any binary of name with gendered languages. I chose Love as my last name because of various reasons that have no inherent relation to avoiding white micro-aggressions with the "difficulty of remembering how to pronounce my Chilean last name", but it does blend into this experience. Mostly, I'm estranged to my father, and as someone born into a woman's body, I admire my right to change my name to what I want it to be and to represent myself with the intention of what I choose to, which was denied to women for centuries in colonial culture. Love is the way I live my life, and I've not met anyone thus far with this last name, so I find liberation in that notion of breaking away from patriarchal control in some sense within my domain of existence.

Thank you for reading!
-Angel

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When I was born, my eyes were very dark, almost black. My mom immediately thought that my eyes resembled little black olives when I was born. She also always loved the name Olivia as she thought it was a classic, timeless name. So, my parents named me Olivia because it closely resembled the word "olives" and they loved the name in general.

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I was named after my great grandmother and it also means "Hope" in Serbian so my parent's decided to give me my name for those reasons.

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My name is of Latin origin and means "just, fair, and/or righteous". My parents told me that my name was given to me because they had always liked it, and decided that their first son (if they had one) would be named Justin

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My parents wanted to pick a gender neutral name for me, because they didn't find out my sex until I was born. My middle name "Emilia" was chosen by my Mother, since my dad heavily influenced my first name.

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My father is Dutch, that is where 'van der Sluis' comes from. Most last names that are Dutch are often times van der -. As for my first name, my parents named me after Queen Juliana of Netherlands. They didn't particularly like 'Juliana' but they did like Julia. My name's meaning is also youthful.

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My brothers all have saint inspired names (Lawrence, Michael, David) as my Mom was quite Catholic and when I was a kid I read names of saints book but couldn't find Kevin in there. i was confused as to why i wasn't named after a saint. Many years later though I discovered that Kevin was a saint from Ireland though. By the time I learned that though I didn't really care, damage done! And Banks and an English name, my Dad's side is English. I think it means my ancestors used to live on the Riverbanks or something, nothing about owning Banks and being rich.

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Being a twin my name was supposed to start with the letter B (for baby B) however, my parents could not think of a name that started with the letter B that they both liked. My dad had always liked the name Sarah so that is what they chose for me. Coming from an Italian background it is tradition for children to be named after their grandparents so my middle name was chosen to be Connie after my grandmother Concetta.

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Hi guys! I think my name came from a TV show my parents used to watch. They were torn between Lauren and Ashley so they went with Lauren Ashley haha. If I had been a guy I would have been a Tyler. My friends call me Lolo :)

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Astrology decides the first letter of your name in India. So, it is decided according to your birth date, time and place of birth. My first letter was 'E' and hence 'Eila' which means 'Earth' in the language Sanskrit. My last name is Singla, which is my husband's last name.

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before I was born, my mother heard my name in passing and really liked the name. Later on she learnt the meaning of the name, which in Persian means piece of gold or heart. I think the meaning of the name made it much more profound for her and gave her reassurance when naming me.

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My father panicked when I was born and when they gave him the paperwork in the waiting room he decided to name me after my mother.  My mother wanted my name to be Gabriela after the angel Gabriel in the bible.

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My mom named me Leslie Anne after the Univeristy she attended: Wesleyan!

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My uncle found it in a baby book and figured it sounded nice. He suggested "Christine" to my non-English speaking parents.

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My parents decided to name me Daniel because of the biblical character as well as how close it is to my older sister's name.

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My name comes from my grandparents on my father and mother's side of the family. My grandfather on my dad's side was named Anthony, my grandfather on my mom's side is named Robert. My last name comes from my father's side, which was shortened to Kosick when his family moved to Canada.

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Jeevan is the sanskrit word for life. My parents chose it because they wanted to avoid a stereotypical Punjabi name that may make life as a Canadian more difficult due to any stereotype it may bring to mind in people I meet. Lattar is an anglicization of a family name from Punjab, which has connections to the antiquated and backwards caste system, simply put, it's more or less an assigned name that can by used by others to get an impression of your caste and clan background. Singh in the middle comes from Sikhism and was meant to be taken up as a new last name to overrite the caste based last names that existed in Punjab, but evidently not all families decided to follow through with that.

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I got my name from my mom's mom (my grandma). As a Italian tradition when you have a child your "suppose" to name your child from your parents or have a middle name.
I love the name Caterina I think it's a unique name meaning Pure in English.

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My parents loved the name Victoria and my aunt is also named Victoria, which in the Italian culture a lot of times children are named after a family member.

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My grandpa's name is Ray and my grandma's name was Anne hence Raeanne!

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My older sisters were both in french immersion at the time I was born. My parents knew a little french from their homework, etc. They said I was made of love and could not wait to tell me they loved me everytime they spoke to me. This was their way of doing that.

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We begin building ur community  of learners by sharing how we got our name.

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We begin building ur community  of learners by sharing how we got our name.