Sunday, June 08, 2008

What's in a name?

One of my blog friends posed this question on her blog a little while ago:

I wonder what the story is behind your name?


Yes. I want you to answer.

I'll start. I was named after my grandma Grace because I was born on her birthday. To be fair, my parents gave me my other grandma's middle name, Katherine, as my middle name. Not very exciting, but that's how it happened.

I will say this, though. I really did dodge a bullet with my name. My grandma Grace really wanted my parents to name me after her mother, whose name was Mena. (Mean-ah) Kinda pretty right? Only my last name was Gravina. Which would have made my name... Mena Gravina. Grace is nice, don't you think?

Now it's your turn. What is the story behind your name?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mine's pretty boring. My parents just liked the way it sounded: Stephanie Brianne (Bree Anne).

Keith and I have been talking about names and whether or not we want originals or family names. It's a tough choice.

Anonymous said...

I really liked Gracina Katherina Gravina!!!

No real story behind my name, though. They just liked it. However, I once read that my mom wanted to name me Ashley - If I was a BOY! Anyway, that's where we first got the idea for Ashleigh, our oldest daughter. She thinks it's pretty funny. :)

Nancy said...

Nancy came from 90% of the females born around that time received that name but my middle name is Gale and that came from my father's first name. I also named my younger daughter Brianne Gale. It was hard to find a middle name for Brianne.

Lila said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lila said...

The story goes that my dad had a friend named "Leila", so he shortened it to Lila. My middle name HAD to start with "D" because they already had two kids with the initials LD. So, I became Lila Denise.

My grandma wanted my name to be Elizabeth Ann and call me Lizzie. That was her mother's name.

Lanny said...

I don't know where Lanny came from, as many of you probably wonder! Thomas, my middle name, comes from my uncle Tommy...who died in Korea in 1958 from spinal meningitis.

Nicole said...

AFTER I was born, my mom and dad went through the baby name book separately and wrote down all of the names they liked. They agreed that the first name (alphabetically) that they both had on their list would be my name. My middle name, Marie, is from my Dad's mom (Jessie Marie). Three of my cousins on my dad's side have Marie as a middle name also.....originality doesn't run in my family obviously.

Anonymous said...

A few weeks before I was born my mother decided they might need to consider a girl's name, just in case. As they were watching The Streets of San Francisco, they found it. A Jamaican lady (of the evening) named Janea (spelled differently, of course) caught their attention. It was decided then and there. My great-aunt's name is Jane. They played with the spelling, added an accent over the "e" and created a name that no one can ever pronounce correctly the first time they try. My middle name is Dale after my cousin Cindy Dale. And that, my friends, is how Janea Dale came to be.
Janea Dale

Anonymous said...

Steve and Grace:

No big whoop here.

I was the 'surprise' child - the youngest of four girls, my closest sister was 7 by the time I was born - my oldest sister was 17, and I was mistaken for HER baby a lot - you know, the early '70's thing. Anyway, back to the name.

My three older sisters are Deborah Ann, Dana Marie, and Daryl Stella - I am Jennifer Frances. Apparently, they couldn't agree on another 'D' name, and Jennifer was NOT a popular name - then. However, my Dad's middle name is Frank, which is the masculine of Frances.

Too much information, huh?

Do you know who I am? Hint "Ya-Ya"

Casey said...

As a little kid, my older brother loved to play with a dog in the neighborhood named Casey. So when I was born, hoping my brother would love to play with me too, my parents named be Casey. Glorious story, I know.

Myre said...

I was named after a couple of my parents friends from Germany. Myriam was their age and one of their good friends. The spelling is apparently French, though, even though I'm named after a German.

My middle name, Elizabeth, is after another one of the women they knew in Germany, Elisabet, though she was a lot older than them.

Not much more to it than that.