Rona Got Me Thinking

Post Date

Mon, 07/06/2015 - 23:50

Categories

Lifestyle

Names are funny things. We don’t pick our own – our parents give them to us at a time before we have even met. How do they know if our names will fit us for an entire lifetime? That is kind of a long time.

When we picked our daughter’s name (Jaclyn), we always assumed that she would be called Jacqui for short. That was not her plan, at least until fifth grade. She was known to quickly correct anyone who tried to use a nickname by saying “That is not the name my parents gave me.” That said, when we were ordering her Carvel birthday cake in fifth grade, she decided that was a perfect opportunity for a name change. At that moment, “Jackee” was born and scrolled in color on a beautiful cake. Think of the various ways that this particular nickname could be spelled. We didn’t know anyone named “Jackee” and to this day really don’t know the derivation of this particular spelling. But, we always know the people who knew the younger person because they still call her Jaclyn. Now in college, Jaclyn is reappearing in professional circumstances.

When our son came along, we let Jaclyn name him. (She was still Jaclyn at the time). Not without limits, but she did choose. Eric could have been – Ethan, Eli or Eric. She chose Eric and here we are. But here’s the catch. Although in recent years, Eric has fully embraced his given name, in the early years it was not easy going. I remember taking him to nursery school one morning and being greeted by Miss Carol who turned to my son and asked “Who are you today?” to which he responded “Jason”. And off he went into the building with teachers and friends calling him Jason. Later that week, I found myself apologizing to a nice gentleman who my son had just chastised for referring to him by his real name.

I wonder if my children would think we had chosen well in their naming. Do you think your name fits?

Comments

Corey Bearak

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I was named for my paternal grandma's mom, Cora; I was told the other choice was Carl (but perhaps because dad had a young first cousin of that name), the name I prefer came in play. Dad's dad was Charles and tradition also put that out of play. My mom likes to call my son, Jonathan, Jon; he corrects people and stands by the three syllables with no shortcut. He was named for my mom's mom and his Hebrew name is a slightly different version, not Yonaton but Yochanon with a slightly nicer translation. We named Marisa for Shelly's maternal grandma. She sometimes uses her middle name as well making her Marisa Jean.
Shelly is Rachelle (yes with an A) but her younger sister started calling her Shell and that became Shelly. But in school and at work she is Rachelle.
My friend Josh who of late prefers Joshua gave a speech when I got honored a few years back and the talk -- http://tiny.cc/j079zx -- explains how my name seems to work for me.

Fred Klein

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I love my name backwards: Derf Nielk!

Liz Saldana

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There was, according to family lore, a huge fight about what to name me. My Mom wanted to name me Desiree and call me Desi. My biological father wanted to name me Nancy after his mother and like his two sisters who named their daughters Nancy both born the same year I was. My Mom told me something snapped, likely due to hormones, and she stood up and announced: "She will be named Elizabeth Ann after the Queen of England and the Virgin Mary's Mother...top that!" and stormed out of the room. I shortened it to Liz when I became an adult; but over the years thought about changing it to Desiree because that's the name my Mom wanted.

Rona Gura

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I never liked my first or middle name, Rona Lee. I was named for both of my grandmothers, who both died before I was born. I always thought that both names were unusual and, as a teenage girl, unusual is not what I wanted to be.

So, I thought it was truly ironic when I told my parents my older daughter's first name, "Calli." Their reaction was essentially befuddlement and they questioned us as to where did we find such an unusual name? My dad sort of redeemed himself on her first birthday when he said to me, "You know, when you first told me her name I thought it was so weird. Now I can't imagine her being called anything else." For my Dad, that was a compliment.

Vik Rajan

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Growing up I never had any Indian friends, so I always felt awkard & anglicized my name to Vik. Teachers always butchered my name (Vkram is a lot more common now). It was only when my college roommate said to me, "Oh, you must be Vikram" that I heard my full name outside my home. Incidentally, he remains one of my closest friends. While I still introduce myself as Vik because it's quicker, I prefer my full name... esp on name tags, biz cards, etc. (BTW: Vikram is the name of a famous Prince, and Rajan is from Raja, King... so, it kinda fits my ego, or the other way around). Great topic...

Ester Horowitz

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While my name may fit my heritage, it never fit me. I kept it out of respect for my father and the legacy the name implied. The fact that it is also not spelled the way most would, only adds extra work to the situation. I would rather have been called Ella, Erica, or something more modern and less ethnic.

Cynthia Somma

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It's funny, I can tell how well a person knows me by which name they use. And if they know me REALLY well...my name gets shorter. Cynthia/Cindy/Cin
My first bf used to call me by my middle name. Lucia. That's why he's an ex lol
My youngest child has the most nicknames in my house, it's pretty funny. She doesn't mind, who knew Emily had so many variations.

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Donna Leslie Levine wrote I am not a fan of either of my names and talk about mis naming Donna means "lady" in Italian lol though that wasn't part of the equation when naming me. But when i did have a choice of last name i never took my married name of Brown because that clearly is not who i grew to be.

Lucas Meyer

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I hated my first name growing up. The first Lucas I ever met was at the East Hampton Memorial Day ceremonies in 1985, and a high school student (Lucas) was winning an award. The kid must have been 6'8", and was built like a linebacker.

So, after the ceremonies finished, I went up to him and said, "Tell me, where'd you get that ridiculous name?" He balled up his fists, and I quickly said, "We share the same name." Big smile from him, and we had a great laugh.

Nowadays, Lucas is a hugely popular name for boys. What goes around comes around, to coin a phrase!

Bill Solz

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My mother was a holocaust survivor whose dad had died in the war. She always felt obligated to name her first son after him, Wiilliam. However, when she came to America she learned of the name Billy which she very much preferred. While conflicted as to ultimately making a selection she told me that to her delight she found out that Billy was actually a derivation of William and she could indeed appropriately honor her father and satisfy her preference! So indeed I did get raised as Billy and when I reached the ripe old age of 22, I thought I should make a slight shift to Bill. But, of course all of my old time friends still use Billy.