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I was named Brayden because my dad suggested the name Cooper and my mom was not a fan. I’ve been told that it’s Irish and means “brave,” but on google it says it’s also Irish for “salmon.” Not too sure what that says about me, but I do like salmon. My family name is from the UK, but I don’t know much about the details because my grandpa never knew his parents.

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My Chinese name is Sijie Zhang. Sijie is my given name, which means thinking fast. Si means thinking and thoughts. Jie means fast and convenient. Zhang is my family name. It is also the family name of my father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc.. I give myself English name as Jessie, because it sounds like the reverse of Sijie, which is quite close to my original Chinese name.

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My parents actually wanted to name me Megan, but their close friends had a daughter just before I was born and named her Megan, so my name became Mackenzie (not sure how they got that one though).

A lot of older people I’ve come to know associate Mackenzie as a Scottish name. My family is actually half Dutch and half English. I have also been asked if it was inspired by William Lyon Mackenzie King, a former PM, and I honestly don’t know.

I think there’s this old distinction between a masculine and feminine spelling of my name, so people often spell it “McKenzie” as opposed to “Mackenzie”. Most people just call me "Mac"/"Mack" as a nickname.

Fun story: I didn’t know how my middle name was actually spelled until I was 9 years old. I was in the x-ray lab at my local hospital after having broken my arm and my full name came up on the computer screen. When I tried to correct the technician, she said “uh nope, that's how it's spelled," and I had absolutely no idea.

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Hi! My parents had the name Shelby ready from the day they met. My father drove a Shelby Cobra when him and my mother met. Then my mothers favourite character in her favourite movie (steel magnolias) was named Shelby.

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- Thomas - Named after Thomas  Whiteside Wilson, my Mothers Mother's Father, he  was a very passionate, while also compassionate man. I never met him.
- Tommy - until part way through University, My closest and oldest friends call me this
- Tom - What I introduce myself  as now
- Peter - Mom's Adopted Dad, incredibly kind man, met my grandmother in Teacher's collage!
- Deadman - Comes from old England, Dudman, as in Clothing washer
○ Changed to Deedman (U in cursive looks like 2 E's)
○ But they still pronounced it with a U, so the next minister assumed that it must be "Deadman" and changed the second e to a.
○ I love my last name, have always enjoyed the teasing it gets
○ My grandfather, and great grandfather both hated it, and considered changing it.
My Great Grandfather was ironically a (semi-Famous) Pathologist

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My name is Matthew. My parent’s chose the name Matthew because it means ‘God’s gift’ even though we aren’t a very religious family.

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Gardens at Chatsworth House in England (where they filmed the 2005 Pride and Prejudice!)

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My name is pronounced "Nuv-Jeet" and translates to "New Victories." I was named by my Aunt on the way to the Gurdwara a little while after I was born. My first name is unisex and has Punjabi/Sikh origins. Jeet is a popular suffix for Punjabi/Sikh first names (for example, my sisters are named Taranjeet and Kiranjeet). My last name is common for girls within the Sikh faith and means princess/lioness.

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I don't know exactly where my first name came from. My middle name is named after my dad and my last name (I think) originated in France.

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Funnily enough, my name is actually Ruth but my parents have called me Ruthie ever since I could remember, so that's what I go by. My mom chose my name because she loved the biblical story of Ruth; she wanted me to grow into a strong, selfless person who would use her strength to support those around her. She also wanted a name that was not common, and I love that I am one of very few individuals my age with my name.

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Both of my parents named me and said they knew right away. My mum is Latvian so she debated spelling it Emilija after my great grandmother's middle name but thought it would be harder for people at school to read.

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My name is pronounced "Suh-Meer". I think the meaning is "life" according to my parents. Honestly not a big fan of the name, might get a name change if I'm feeling up to it. I'm from Afghanistan, and I'm pretty sure Sameer is more an Indian name so not too sure why they did that. If I was born a girl my name would be Sameera which is kind of cooler. Some people had trouble with my name so sometimes I'd just say my name is Sam. The only nickname I get is or Sammy but that's only for the real ones.

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Originally my parents were hoping i'd be a boy so they could name me Cameron Robert, a blend of their favourite hockey players (Bobby Orr and Cam Neely). When they found out I was a girl, they settled for the name Shannon. My mom, being a teacher, assigned my middle name 'Deanna' as reference to one of her favourite students.
Fun Fact: I am the only one in the family that is not named after another family member.

Since I couldnt be named after Cam Neely, I named my puppy after him instead *pictured above*

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No special reasoning for my first name. Although it is a name from my mother's side. I come from a fairly religious family and my parents wanted biblical names for myself and brother (Brandon). However, if my mom gave birth to a girl I would have been named Courtney.

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No specific reason for my first name, my parents just liked the sound of Anna! My last name is Polish and from my dad's side of the family. It's pronounced "Pazdior" (aka ignore the 2nd "z") & it means fall harvest:)

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My three babies :) We had to put our Boston Rocky down this past spring.

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My name is Greek in origin and means 'darkness' or 'black'. I've created a meaning around my name attaching it to the moon and the 'darkness' or mystical nature of the dark when the moon is present. My mother is French Canadian and dad is from England. They wanted a name that could be pronounced in both English and French. I prefer to be called Mel and am slowly reconnecting with my French culture and learning to embrace the accent on my 'e'. People often mispronounce my name.

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My parents chose Katherine just because they thought it sounded nice and because it has a lot of possible nicknames so I could choose what I liked best. There's nothing particularly special about my name, but I put the Irish flag there because I recently discovered that I got my last name not from the UK like I' thought, but from Ireland, and ever since I've been looking more into my family tree.

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My mom was reading a newspaper article and there was a story about a hockey player named Zak and she liked the sound of it. It was also the only name my dad and her could agree on.

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My mom said that she wanted to avoid fancy names and instead go with something more standard. She decided to pick a name from the bible and really liked Matthew. My dad had no input because he wanted to name me after a famous Russian chess player which was never going to happen.

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Up until a few days before I was born, my parents were thinking that my name would be Jacklyn. For some reason, my mom suddenly decided that Jacklyn shouldn't be my name, and instead it should be Rachel. I don't think there was any particular reason for the change, my mom just decided that Rachel was the right name. Once I was born, my uncle immediately asked my parents if they were watching Thursday night tv when deciding on my name because there were not one but two popular characters named Rachel Green (on Friends and ER). My parents genuinely had no idea, so now when I saw my full name people always assume my parents must have been huge Friends fans.

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I was named Rachel for two main reasons: the first being that my last name is "Rosato," and my parents wanted both me and my older sister to have double R names (Rebecca and Rachel Rosato). My grandparents are Catholic which also influenced their decision, since Rebecca and Rachel are both biblical names. My friends call me Rach and my grandmother calls me Rachelina, so any little variation is fine by me!

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My name is Joseph Haddad. My family named me Joseph after my grandfather (my father's father) as part of a tradition in Lebanon where you name the first son in the family after the dad's dad. My usual nickname is Joe. My family is catholic so part of the name comes in honour of St. Joseph.

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In my culture, it's common for parents to give their child a new last name at birth. In my case, I was given the last name Girineza, which means 'to do well' in our native language of Kirundi.

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I don't have many pictures of myself, but this shows two of my favourite things - reading and my cats (Ivy on my lap, Quin in the picture on the wall). 

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My parents named me together, and wanted to name me Adrian whether I was born male or female. There's no specific meaning behind it, other than the fact that they both really liked it. I share my middle name with my dad and his dad. Thomson comes from my Scottish heritage (my dad was born in Glasgow). My nickname is Age because my dad's subtle accent turned the "d" in my name into a "g" sound. I don't think people find my name particularly tough to spell/pronounce, but I do get Aidan a lot...

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My uncle named me after his favorite basketball player Isaiah Thomas.

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My name has been passed down for six generations. I'm William Warner Thomas the sixth. Although my name has been in my family for a long time I am unsure of where my name originated from.

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^ Here's my dog to distract you from my boring name ^

My name is a common first name with a common surname. I believe the decision to name me Luke was biblically motivated. Hudson was a name that was changed from Noble when my great grandfather moved to Canada, but we aren't sure why he changed it. My middle name, Ambrose, was my Polish grandfathers name.

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Hello :)

My name is Melade Chris Elaou and I was born in Canada, however my parents are originally from Lebanon and Palestine.

I was named after the Arabic word for Christmas and yes I do mean the holiday!

I guess my parents weren't so original since I was also born on Dec 24th....

If you really think about it my full name is Christmas Chris Elaou. This is why I just go by Chris, it's a lot easier right?

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My dad was super creative and named me Alexandra Paul after the actress, Alexandra Paul

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My given name is Japanese (meaning green) and my family name is Irish. My mother actually didn't name me until a few days after I had been born. There isn't a particular 'story' of why she chose it, she just thought it suited me. People do find it hard to pronounce [mee-door-ree] AND spell. I also go by 'Dori' sometimes, it feels more neutral to me, but I love both names.

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Hannah Evans: My name doesn’t have much cultural or historical meaning. My mum decided to name me Hannah because she’s deaf and while she can speak, she has a hard time pronouncing a lot of sounds. Hannah was easy for her to say and she liked the way it looked. I like my name and the reason my mum chose it, but I wish people would spell it the right way more often!

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Hi Everyone! My name is Caleigh (pronounced Kay-lee). My mum is from Scotland and my dad is from Ireland, so I'm the first Canadian in my family. My family is very proud of their Gaelic background, so my name is a nod to that heritage. The traditional spelling of my name is ceilidh, but my parents didn't think anyone would be able to pronounce it correctly so they modified the spelling. Caleigh (or ceilidh) is the name of traditional Gaelic social gatherings where people dance and sing to Gaelic music - essential a house party!

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My first name comes from the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a book that my mom loves. She decided she wanted to make my name unique and added a second “N” after the first. Leong-Sem is my dad’s family name. According to my grandfather, Leong is a village that my family originates from in China and Sem is the branch of family from that village. I am also middle named after both of my grandfathers, Elias (maternal) and Phillip (paternal). Elias comes from Elijah, which is related to Yahweh, an old name for the Judeo-Christian God. Phillip means lover of horses, I assume from Philip of Macedon, a king and Alexander the Great’s father, who had an elite cavalry at his command.

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My parents named me this name when I was born. I know it was named after my grandfather Alexander McKitrick on my mother's side who started a newspaper company in Orangeville. It is of Greek origin and it means defender of men. To me name means leadership because it was named after the famous Greek general Alexander the Great

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My mom loves the soap opera "The Young and the Restless" so she named me after Nikki, a character on it.

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This is the view I have from my workspace.

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My Korean name is Yeain 예인 which means "to lead the Arts." My Dad used to be a theatre actor when I was young and he had hopes for me to share his dreams in becoming an artist. I guess blood can't lie. I have always been crazy about art and my dream in life is to be an author.

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No special reason for my first name, my mom happened to see it in a book and liked it. My last name is French from my mothers fathers side from France. I chose the book cover because its one of the first books I read, enjoyed, and related to.

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My mom wanted to name me Nathaniel. My dad didn't want me to have a long name. So they ended up with Nathan Daniel.

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My mother and father could not decide on what to name me. My brother's name started with the letter A, so they knew they wanted another "A" name. My aunt from Arizona called my mom to check in on her, and suggested the name Austin to my parents. The name stuck, and so did everyone calling me Austin Powers through the entirety of my life.

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Conor Bradshaw:

My name, Conor, is based on the character Conor Larkin from a novel called Trinity. My mom loved this book and character... I don't know what it's about and haven't actually read it, but now I feel like I should! I know that the character is Irish and that is a part of my heritage on my mother's side, so it was also a culturally suitable name for me. I get called Conor, Connie, Con, Concon, Conbon... the list goes on!

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Alexandra Pallen: My parents wanted to give me a powerful name. They tested out names by pretending to be lawyers introducing themselves to clients and I guess Alexandra is the one that stuck! My middle name is a family name.

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My mom went into the hospital in labour and my parents didn't have a name for me yet. Her friend gave birth in the room next door a couple of hours before I was born. She called her baby, Diana. Mom liked it and so as not to copy, named me, Diane. The schnauzer has nothing to do with this story, but I love dogs and I used to have one named, Popo. My husband and kids gave her this name when I was away and I didn't approve. It grew on me.