Eleventy-One Things, 32-34: Names Edition
Eleventy-One Things About Me, #32-34
#32: My oldest daughter and I have the same initials: AJ. (No, we don't have the same first or middle name.)
When I was about 12, I went by A.J. for a while. It sounded so much tougher and less prissy than Angela. Yeah, I was 5'2", petite and a ball of fire. ;-)
#33: My second daughter's initials are MM. Her first name is the name I always named my dolls when I was a little girl. My sister and I begged my parents to name my youngest sister M, but the name was very similar in sound to my middle sister's name, so my parents gave little sister Amy the M name as a middle name instead. So naming my daughter M was the fulfillment of a dream I'd had since I was about 3.
#34: Name meanings and origins are one of the many random, generally useless factoids I enjoy learning about and "collecting". I'll often comment on the meaning of someone's name as a conversation-starter. It seems that people generally really enjoy hearing and discussing what their name means.
All of our kids' names were picked both for their sound and their meanings. AJ's name means grace and truth, which is what we were learning about God's character and about relationships when she was born. So it has a special commemorative meaning. MM's name means "Who is like the Lord?" and showing her true beauty and great worth under pressure. EA's name means "consecrated to God", peace and beauty.
Incidentally, all our kids' names have some kind of family or friend connection, even though it was sort of accidental. AJ's first name is the name of my best friend my first couple of years of college, and her second name is a variation of my middle sister's name. MM's first name is my youngest sister's middle name and her middle name is my granddmother's middle name. EA's middle name is a variation on my dad's middle name.
A couple of months before we got engaged, DH celebrated his birthday. I gave him a framed poem about him that I wrote in calligraphy, made of an acrostic with the letters of his name at the beginning of the lines. You can't really tell from this excerpt, but it was written in an abab, cdcd slant-rhyme scheme, weaving in the meanings of his first and middle names.
Here's an excerpt--just a few lines (half of two different stanzas, so the rhyme scheme seems totally messed up) but my favorite part:
. . . Your soul,
Open as the pages of a book, has wrought
Not words, but fruits that down its columns scroll:
Gentleness, kindness, wisdom, truth and love
Display their flaming colors in your heart.
That's so true of my husband. Can you tell why I love him so much?
#32: My oldest daughter and I have the same initials: AJ. (No, we don't have the same first or middle name.)
When I was about 12, I went by A.J. for a while. It sounded so much tougher and less prissy than Angela. Yeah, I was 5'2", petite and a ball of fire. ;-)
#33: My second daughter's initials are MM. Her first name is the name I always named my dolls when I was a little girl. My sister and I begged my parents to name my youngest sister M, but the name was very similar in sound to my middle sister's name, so my parents gave little sister Amy the M name as a middle name instead. So naming my daughter M was the fulfillment of a dream I'd had since I was about 3.
#34: Name meanings and origins are one of the many random, generally useless factoids I enjoy learning about and "collecting". I'll often comment on the meaning of someone's name as a conversation-starter. It seems that people generally really enjoy hearing and discussing what their name means.
All of our kids' names were picked both for their sound and their meanings. AJ's name means grace and truth, which is what we were learning about God's character and about relationships when she was born. So it has a special commemorative meaning. MM's name means "Who is like the Lord?" and showing her true beauty and great worth under pressure. EA's name means "consecrated to God", peace and beauty.
Incidentally, all our kids' names have some kind of family or friend connection, even though it was sort of accidental. AJ's first name is the name of my best friend my first couple of years of college, and her second name is a variation of my middle sister's name. MM's first name is my youngest sister's middle name and her middle name is my granddmother's middle name. EA's middle name is a variation on my dad's middle name.
A couple of months before we got engaged, DH celebrated his birthday. I gave him a framed poem about him that I wrote in calligraphy, made of an acrostic with the letters of his name at the beginning of the lines. You can't really tell from this excerpt, but it was written in an abab, cdcd slant-rhyme scheme, weaving in the meanings of his first and middle names.
Here's an excerpt--just a few lines (half of two different stanzas, so the rhyme scheme seems totally messed up) but my favorite part:
. . . Your soul,
Open as the pages of a book, has wrought
Not words, but fruits that down its columns scroll:
Gentleness, kindness, wisdom, truth and love
Display their flaming colors in your heart.
That's so true of my husband. Can you tell why I love him so much?
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 8:47 PM[Permanent link]
8 Comments:
Yes, you can tell how much you love him. That is beautiful!
Kid L's entire name are family names, although completely accidental. Baby H's name I borrowed from my best friend after she didn't use it for her 2nd daughter b/c they didn't like the sound of it with their last name.
hehe, I mention the meaning of people's names in conversations, too! :-)
Hubby's older two sisters gave all their children completely Biblical names (and #2 SIL managed to get all three boys the same initials, too, they are JAWs). Hubby's female twin, the baby of the family and whiny twit, opted out of course.
I wanted a bit more family connection for my kids, so they have Biblical first names and familial middle names. The first names were chosen for how they sound with the middle ones, not for meaning, however. #1-Son is "God is my judge" w/ FIL's name and #2-Son is "Rock" w/ Hubby's middle name.
Daughter is "my father's joy" (which she is not, but she is my joy). Her middle name was supposed to be LeeAnne, a combo of my grandmother's middle name and the one my mother and I share, but when she popped out all pink and plump all I could think was "look at my little English rosebud" (she was conceived in Britain) so her middle name is Rose. Alas, but I found out after the fact that is my stepmother's middle name, and my mother was a tetch displeased... Turns out, if I had given her my dad's mother's name, it would have been very appropriate: "Gift of God" (she was a whoopsie.) It does not flow so trippingly off the tongue, though.
Had Daughter been a boy, she would have been Benjamin (both my dad's grandfather's name and appropriate with #2-Son) with my maiden name for a middle name.
My father and half-brother bear the family middle name, which allows us to trace our ancestry back to the creaky ship that hit Massachusetts 385 years ago. But it is a seriously obnoxious moniker that none can spell upon hearing nor pronounce upon reading, and invariably reminds them of light bulbs. I would not do that to any of my children (not even in the easier-to-deal-with feminine form). In fact, neither has my brother.
I grew up understanding that my name means "musical" (from a baby book my mom got...had meanings of names in it, though not a whole lot). Lately if I am ever on a site that has meanings of names, I quite often see "Meadow on a ledge" as the meaning...what's up with that?? I mean, I know I am not musical...but what does my name have to do with a meadow on a ledge? I'd like to know the meaning behind that one! I know lots of last names were taken from places or areas where a family lived though...I do my family tree and have found out things like that along the way.
That is beautiful!
My girls share their fathers' initials (since they aren't boys, we wanted another way to connect them to their father; he was touched by the idea). They both go their first names from TV shows (Star Trek and 7th Heaven).
I also gave them Hebrew names--one to honor my late grandfather and one to honor both of my late grandmothers (who happened to have the same name).
That is funny that Running2k posted that, because our plan is to name our future children with the same (family) initials as my husband. Both my husband and his father have the same initials, so it'll be a nice connection.
I'm loving hearing all these name stories; thanks for sharing, everyone!
And now the challenge is to figure out what the actual names are, given their meanings. I think I know what E is. And I KNOW I know what God is my judge is, because one of my children is also God is my judge. My other son is He shall increase (anyone? anyone?). My daughter's name has myriad meanings in different languages.
What a fun post!
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