The Story of Our Names - PED 3114 E by Diane Watt

Alicia Banc

2024-09-13 13:15:57 UTC

My parents are immigrants from Poland and wanted a name that translates well in Polish and English. I'm the only girl in my family, my mom decided I was gonna be Alicia or Natalia, my dad chose Alicia (translation Alicja)

Hope Ballinger

2024-09-13 13:18:08 UTC

My parents were told they couldn't have children, and then after 7 years they found out they were pregnant with me, and hence named me Hope.

Hilary

2024-09-13 13:18:52 UTC

My mom already had 3 kids before me, so she had already met many kids in schools and didn't want to repeat any names of people she has met, so for each of my siblings she tried to find the least common names at the time, which is how I got my name!

John Hiemstra

2024-09-13 13:20:47 UTC

My parents named me together. They are big evangelicals and named my after the apostle John. My middle name is Immanuel which means "God with us". And my last is Hiemstra which I believe means farmer and originates from the Dutch province of Friesland.

Hayley Apted

2024-09-13 13:20:52 UTC

I got my name because my Dad wanted to name me Harley (after his motorcycle), but my Mom was against it, so they compromised by swapping one letter out!

My last name is Welsh, and it means something about a watchtower.

Cairine Sametz

2024-09-13 13:20:57 UTC

My name is actually my mom's middle name, she actually wishes her parents named her Cairine; her name is Andrea haha. My name is Scottish decent. Throughout my life people have always struggled to prononce it and spell it (especially at Starbucks). I've grown to like my name because it is unique and also my instagram handle.

Michael Booker

2024-09-13 13:20:59 UTC

My first name Michael and middle name Owen come from my grandfather on my mothers side. My name is the inverse of his name, Owen Michael. I also have an older cousin who is named directly after my grandfather.

Natalie Liguori

2024-09-13 13:21:02 UTC

My mom had no real reasoning behind my given name, she just really liked the name Natalie. After googling the meaning of my name, it turns out that it means “the birth of the Lord” or “Christmas Day”. My family is not religious so I don’t think they knew the meaning when I was named.

Jacob Cuglietta

2024-09-13 13:22:10 UTC

Both my parents are Italian, with my mom being a mix of French and Irish as well. My mother named me. She spent years trying for a baby and finally after reading the bible verse Jacobs ladder and lots of praying she came up with my name. She also got a scar the shape of a cross when I was born.

Chiara Colasante

2024-09-13 13:22:43 UTC

My name is of Italian origin. It means bright or luminous. I am named after my great grandmother.

Ethan Dylan Dagg Costescu

2024-09-13 13:22:57 UTC

My first name was a name my parents chose together for no particular reason. My middle names are carrying maiden names down from my mother and grandparents. And my last name was made when my family fled Romania.

Lucas Quattrocchi

2024-09-13 13:23:15 UTC

I was named after my Great Grandfather who died in a battle in Albania while serving his country in WW1. Additionally, my family is from Greece and my name translates to "bringer of light" and my mom thought that sounded meaningful and profound. Also, my two middle names are "James" and "Russell" and I did not know I had the second one until I was 8 (for whatever reason).

Erin Lacey

2024-09-13 13:23:44 UTC

My parents have no naming tradition. My mom comes from German decent and my dad from British-Canadian decent. My mom had wanted to name her first daughter Erin or Hannah and chose Hannah, so I became Erin. My middle name, Elizabeth, is a family name and my mom just liked the sound of it with my first and last names. My last name is of French origin???

Isra Bouzidi

2024-09-13 13:23:45 UTC

An Arabic name, my name is named after a chapter in the Holy Book, the Quran. My mom named me I was the second child she wanted to choose her daughters name.

Kemunto Maranga

2024-09-13 13:24:47 UTC

In my father's tribe (Kisii tribe from Kenya) there is a strong naming tradition. My last name is my grandfather's first name. That way when I walk around, I can tell people whose house/compound I came from.

"Kemunto" is the name of my father's aunt, and a very popular name in my tribe.

My first name is Adriene but I go by my middle name "Kemunto" because my parents used my middle name with me while I was growing up so I always identified with it more.

Attached is a photo I took in December in Kisii.

Markku

2024-09-13 13:26:11 UTC

My name is Finnish, as is my dad's side of the family, and my parents gave my then 2-year-old sister three Finnish names to say and whichever of those sounded the cutest to them they would pick.

Katelyn Grace McKee Day

2024-09-13 13:26:20 UTC

Katelyn - Is just me. The name my mom thought was just right.

Grace - Is my great grandma. A lady of great style well into her 90s.

McKee - Is my mom's family and the name she kept when she married.

Day - Is my dad's family and reminds me of the sun!

Rebecca Cummings

2024-09-13 13:26:44 UTC

How I got my name: my mom side of the family is French and my dad side is English , so they wanted a name that can be pronounced well in both languages .

Nickname: Becky- I got that nickname because my sister couldn’t pronounce Rebecca as a child, so she called me “Kiki” which eventually evolved into Becky

Zova Ayman

2024-09-13 13:26:47 UTC

My first name is Zova and second and last name is Ayman. My mom named me and everyone in my family calls me Ayman. 😊

Morgan Virgin

2024-09-13 13:27:25 UTC

In my dad's words, "Mom's pick. Lol. I liked it too. Therefore, Morgan it is."

In my mom's words, "We didn't know you were a girl, but I was worried about not having a girl's name. We had to stop at the bank after a doctors appointment and the tellers name was Morgan. When I saw the name tag, I loved it!"

Amanda Gaetano

2024-09-13 13:27:33 UTC

Both my mom and sister have names that start with A, so as the youngest they also wanted to give me an A name.

Lily Dingman

2024-09-13 13:28:46 UTC

My mother chose my name; it was not her first choice, but she decided on Lily after her original name was vetoed. She chose Lily because she thought it sounded nice and went well with my middle name. My middle name is a family name, and it is a variation of the mother Mary. So, in a weird way, both my names ended up connecting back to symbols of purity.

Aidan Nielsen

2024-09-13 13:29:27 UTC

My name means “little fire” in Irish (I believe my parents named me Aidan because it was a popular name in 2000). My dad really wanted to name me “Chili”, but thankfully, my mom turned that down.

My middle name is Zane from an actor my dad really liked.

My last name is the most common last name in Denmark where my father’s side is from.

Diane Watt

2024-09-13 13:30:48 UTC

My parents didn't have a name picked out for me. When mom was in the hospital about to give birth, her friend also had her baby and named her Diana. Mom liked the name, so I became, Diane. My family name is "Ordog" which is the English version of my grandparents' Hungarian name when then came to Canada in the 1930's. A nickname I got in school was "cat or dog"!

Edward Eyamie

2024-09-13 13:31:20 UTC

My parents borrowed my first name from a fuzzy hippo hot water bottle that they had for a long time.

My last name was made up 4 generations ago by an ancestor on my fathers side when he fled Syria to escape dept he had from betting on horses. He fled to Canada and my family has been here since.

2024-09-13 13:31:32 UTC

My parents liked the name Emma, it's german for "whole" or "universal", but my last name very is important to me. My background is Guyanese, Irish, Croatian. Douglas is a common slave name for a large chunk of my west African ancestors. James Douglas, a distant relative, freed slaves from San Fransisco and got them BC and became the first Governor of British Columbia.

Liam McMullen

2024-09-13 13:33:27 UTC

I don't have an interesting story about my name. My parents found my name in a baby name book and liked that "Liam" meant "Leader" or "Guardian". At the time, Liam wasn't a very popular name - that has recently changed.

Kiya Lamontagne

2024-09-13 13:35:52 UTC

While in Paris, my parents were looking at a baby name book and found the name "Kaiya." Unfortunately, they decided to get creative and drop the first "a," making the spelling "Kiya." Now phonetically incorrect, my name is difficult to pronounce when reading it. A few friends and family members call me "Kiy" for short (which phonetically, should be spelled "Kai"). My middle name, "Celesse," means "heavenly" and likely came from the same baby name book. Whether or not my parents were aware of its meaning, they liked the sound of the name and stuck with it (though luckily left the spelling as is). My last name, "Lamontagne" means "the mountain" in English and is derived from my French background, though my inability to properly speak the language does not reflect my family name well. And thus, "Kiya Celesse Lamontagne" was born.

Ella Widdis

2024-09-13 13:35:58 UTC

My parents didn't know whether or not I was going to be a girl or a boy so they had made lists of both names and when I was born my mom just thought that I looked like an Ella and it was a name already on the list so that was how I got my name!

Joshua Kenji Shimizu

2024-09-13 13:37:04 UTC

Since my parents couldn't decide on a name together, they decided that if I was a girl then my dad would name me and if I was a boy then my mom would get to name me. Surprise.. I am now a Josh instead of an Alyssa.

My dad being fully Japanese, I was given the middle name Kenji, meaning intelligent, healthy second son.

Mackenzie

2024-09-13 13:37:22 UTC

My name originates from Scotland with Gaelic roots. My parents picked a name that had a lot of nickname options. Now everyone I know has a different nickname for me; Mack, Kenzie, Kenz, Mackey, Kenny and even "Big Mac"

Hail(y)-Marie Rioux

2024-09-13 13:37:48 UTC

My dad is very passively French Catholic and my mom is Jewish, so my name incorporates Hail which means 'life' in Hebrew and Marie, which is a very common French Catholic name, without my name just ending up 'Hail Mary' exactly lol.

William Morrissey

2024-09-13 13:38:49 UTC

My full name is William Jacob Morrissey. Both William and Jacob come from ancestors of my mother's side of the family, where I believe William was the name of my mother's grandfather, and Jacob traces back to the earliest recorded member of her ancestry to arrive in Newfoundland.

The name William comes from the Germanic name Wilhelm, combining will and helmet: The desire to protect. My last name derives from the old Irish name "Ó Muirgheasa", which loosely translates to protector of the sea (if memory serves correctly from old research). That means the meaning of my name is "protector of the protector of the sea". Poseidon appreciates my efforts I'm sure.

Calista Payne

2024-09-13 13:38:59 UTC

My mom and dad were big on unique names. Entering the hospital, there were two names my mom and dad had in mind which were Orlando and Calista. My parents love to be in warm destinations, especially to Orlando, which is where this name came to mind. Additionally, my mom used to watch a series called Ally McBeal when she was first introduced to actor, Calista Flockhart. My mom instantly fell in love with this name and I was named Calista! Named after my mom's sister, my middle name is Marie. My last name is Payne. As a baby, my dad was adopted by a couple who were unable to have kids due to medical reasons - my grandparents. To this day, we don't know much regarding my dad's family history. To me, my name is unique and creative! Growing up, my parents gave me the nickname kookie (as in kookie Calista). A lot of people find my name very difficult to pronounce and spell.

Tristan Hickey

2024-09-13 13:39:04 UTC

My parents just liked the name Tristan. My middle name is Mary Jane. Mary came from my Aunt that passed away before I was born and Jane came from my grandma's name.

Sameeha Siddiqui

2024-09-13 13:40:15 UTC

I did not have a proper name for the first few months of my life. My mom would veto any suggestions people would offer. She finally settled on Sameeha, an Arabic name that means 'generous'. She said it was the only name she heard that she thought suited me perfectly.

Trystan Brodhagen

2024-09-13 13:40:47 UTC

My name was chosen from a list of baby names. It was chosen simply because it sounds nice. I like my name, as I feel it suits me. Sometimes people call me Tris as a nickname. Usually when I tell people my name, I spell it out or else they will assume it is written with an I instead of a Y.

Adam Starkey

2024-09-13 13:44:34 UTC

I'm at the tail-end of a 4-kid family, so in an ironic twist my parents named me Adam (the first man) even though I'm their last kid. My middle name Jude comes from the Beatles song 'Hey Jude' since it was the first song my parent's danced to when they met as teenagers. Finally, my last name comes from my Dad's side which is English, the name actually used to be spelt 'STARKY', but for reasons unknown it was changed when the family left Britain for Canada.

Marie-Ève Nicole Léger

2024-09-13 13:46:01 UTC

My parents chose my name at the last second. They are not religious in any way, but for some reason decided to put together the two most symbolic religious names from the bible. My middle name is from my grandmother, she is actually my neighbor! My last name originates from New Brunswick, where my dad and his family grew up, its a french origin, meaning "light" as in featherlight. The name is actually sometimes written in New Brunswick as "Légère".

Sam McDonald

2024-09-13 13:49:01 UTC

My first name has very little story behind it. My parents liked Samuel and Sam for short, so that's my name! My middle name, however, does have a bit of a story. William was my great grandfather's name on my mom's side, so my parents gave me that as my middle name.

Jana Deanne Pledge Dickson

2024-09-13 13:56:18 UTC

My parents named me Jana after a friend they went to highschool with who's name is Jana. They also wanted to choose a name that was short enough that I wouldn't have any nicknames. My siblings names are Brent and Sarah which were also chosen with the intention of not having nicknames.

My middle name is Deanne which is my great aunt's first name. My mom was close with my great aunt growing up so she decided to name me after her. My great aunts name is pronounced (Dee - nee), but my mom changed the pronounciation to (Dee - anne) for my middle name.

Neither of my parents were willing to give up their last name, which is why I have two last names. Pledge is from my mom and Dickson is from my dad.

Caitlin McKee

2024-09-13 13:56:53 UTC

My parents chose the name Caitlin because of my dad's Irish ancestry and they liked the Irish spelling as well as the meaning, 'pure'. My family is Catholic and my parents really liked St. Bernadette of Lourdes, so my middle name is Bernadette.

Areej El Banna

2024-09-13 13:58:55 UTC

My parents wanted to have an interesting name for me but didn't have any ideas at the time. They heard the name Areej, which in Arabic means the fragrance of a flower, and thought it seemed interesting enough. My 2 brothers also have "A" names so they thought it would be nice for all their kids to have names that start with the same letter!

Jaclyn

2024-09-27 20:05:01 UTC

My name is Jaclyn and I was named after Jaclyn Smith from the original Charlie's Angels. My mom thought she was very elegant and smart and that's why she chose that name.