hello my name is

Neveah

2008-05-04T22:47:00.008-04:00

"Of the last couple of generations, Nevaeh is certainly the most remarkable phenomenon in baby names," said Cleveland Kent Evans, president of the American Name Society and a professor of psychology at Bellevue University in Nebraska.

The surge of Nevaeh can be traced to a single event: the appearance of a Christian rock star, Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D., on MTV in 2000 with his baby daughter, Nevaeh. "Heaven spelled backwards," he said.

I'm definitely not a fan of this name trend but found it interesting to learn that having a name with a final "ah" sound is currently fashionable. Who knew?

Tima

2008-04-28T20:18:00.011-04:00

TIMA

(pronounced Tee-mah)

We instantly thought of the name Tima when we got back home from the shelter with our new kitty. Her name at the time was Bootsie, because of her white boots and gloves, but neither Nick nor I liked the sound of it. She's a very sweet, tiny calico with a lot of blonde and large beautiful green eyes so as soon as I got a nice good look at her it came to me - she looks exactly like Tima! The Japanese animation Metropolis is one of my favorites and in it Tima is a robotic double of the deceased daughter of the main villain who has no idea that she she's a robot or that she was made to be placed on the seat of world power. Tima really does look just like her if you have a good imagination like me!

While searching for the origin or meaning of the name I found this:

Tima is a Yanomamo Indian (Brazil) name meaning "one who comes from above", in either the physical or metaphysical sense. The original Tima was a beautiful child, very sweet and loved by all.

It's so appropriate to the character, I think - the writers must have known the origin of the name when they decided on it. I love the meaning and definitely think it applies to my Tima.

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Another thing I stumbled on while researching the origins of Tima's name was an interesting article about the psychological and social repercussions of having an unusual first name. You named her what? by Waheeda Harris asks the question - does having an unconventional make you feel unique or like a freak? After what seems like countless studies on the subject the trend seems to be that a non-traditional name will get you a lot of teasing and misery in your early years followed by a reason to be proud and stand apart later on in life - so I guess the answer is both. What I found the most interesting was this:

Dr. Evans says the key for many children is knowing the story behind their name. “Having an explanation will insulate you from teasing and anchor your personality. If you can explain the origins of your name, it helps deflect the negative.”

Christine's story (and Cristina's!)

2008-04-22T02:06:00.004-04:00

CHRISTY and MEGHAN

My mom decided to call me Christy because while she was in early labor she read a (really bad) book by Catherine Marshall (a writer of Christian fiction) called Christy. So my name is Christine, but I've always gone by Christy. My sister is named after a character in the book The Thornbirds
(Meghan), and I was allowed, at the age of 3, to pick her middle name (Amy).

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It's so funny how both of these sisters are named after characters in awful books their mom read and liked! Also interesting is that Christy was allowed to pick her younger sister's middle name. My parents let my brother pick my first name (at the age of 9, not 3!) although it was sort of a last minute thing. He was sure I'd come out a boy so he had already picked out Carlos ahead of time. When I came out a girl he was scrambling for something and came up with Anna and Cristina. I'm not sure how Cristina won out, but I'm glad it did. I wonder if this is a common phenomena, having older siblings pick out younger siblings names?

Lucia and Isaac

2008-04-18T23:01:00.010-04:00

My friend Jerry is about to have his third child and recently posted a bulletin on MySpace asking for help with name suggestions. I found that to be such an intriguing and uniquely modern option; having this forum where you can discuss name possibilities and get everyone's creative input and ideas. So, I asked him about the bulletin idea and whether it was successful as well as the name stories behind his first two children. Here's PART 1 of his responses.

When I ask Jerry about the process of choosing his children's names he says, "It is a strange and beautiful process. The right name just clicks instantly."

ISAAC ALEISTER

Isaac in Hebrew means "Laughter" and the story is, I believe, that Ruth laughed when the angel told her she would bear a child...at her age. That child of Abraham was Isaac. You know my appreciation for the Qabala and all. Isaac assumed his namesake as a behavioral trait very early-only. A few months into his life and he was laughing his ass off and is still laughing his ass off. His middle name is Aleister...I couldn't resist as I like the way it sounds and the derivation from Alexander is interesting. He is Isaac the Great! Not to sound pretentious, but the kid is a genius. He can operate multiple programs (music player and game) on a PC and successfully navigate through the paint program to match his color recognitions and presentations as he states, "now I do green, click/click, TADA!" and the screen turns green. Then he shuts it down properly, all at 1 year 8 months old AND no one showed him how to use the computer ever.

LUCIA SOPHIE

The first name derives from Lucifer, the Illuminated One, the Angel of Light and implies enlightenment or illumination. Sophia is translated to mean wisdom. For me, she is my Light and Wisdom. She cured me of many bad habits and destructive behaviors. She truly is a happy baby girl that loves her Daddy - the battery of slobbery kisses I get daily is almost unbearable. Like the sound of the name itself, she is truly beautiful...especially when she is scarfing down her peaches and throwing unwanted portions of cheerios on the floor.

Coincidence? Fate? Destiny!

2008-04-16T17:13:00.017-04:00

Diana's story was included in issue #1 and it's one of my favorites. I had to cut out a bit to make it fit but edited it in a way to emphasize the coincidence of being named the same as the Saint attributed to her birthday without her mother even knowing it! I absolutely love coincidences and wondering their significance in the grand scheme. And, I love how she mentions this because it reminds me of my own mother's name story. Diana is Nick's mom and she is much younger than my mom but she's just as catholic and it's interesting to see how common being named after a Saint was in the past. Can you imagine anyone now-a-days looking up a Saint's feast day to name their child after them? Naming babies has come a long way since then and it seems to be used by most today as either a way to be different, a way to honor a family member, or as some sort of status symbol. I wonder if Catholics our age are still looking to the Saints for name inspiration or if that's a long forgotten tradition.

DIANA

My first name is Diana and my birthday is June 9th. My mom says that she just wanted to call me that because she liked the name and it was a different way to name me after St. Anna. Well, being Catholic, it is appropriate to be named for a saint rather than the Roman or Greek Goddesses. To the Romans I am Diana, to the Greeks I am Athena. To both I am sister to Apollo and protectress of virgins as well as goddess of the moon and hunt. Two languages, same name. In some ways, those meanings applied to my life before I was even old enough to understand it. A few years back I ran across an article covering the life of an Italian woman who became St. Diana. She lived in the 13th century during the time of St. Dominic and was a devoted follower of his. She lived up to the aspirations of the goddesses by fighting her family to remain a nun. My mother didn't know that the two names are the same in the different tongues. Nor did she know that there was a St. Diana. All saints have a day of the year in which to be remembered, even if they share it with others. Her feast day? June 9th.

Coincidence? FATE? Destiny!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2008-04-14T22:47:00.004-04:00

Did you know that Wikipedia has entries of descriptions and strange trivia for practically every first name there is? I was googling my first name to see what I could find out about its meaning beyond the whole Christian aspect and saw that Wikipedia has an entry for my name that includes a list of some famous people (although no one I'd ever heard of except that Cristina lady on Univision) and the description below. Curious, I looked up Nick and then Nicholas next and found so much more! All sorts of cool stuff, like this great list below of variations on his name. Different names have different amounts and types of information listed. Look yours up and see what you find!

CRISTINA

Cristina may refer to:

Cristina, a municipality (pop. 548) in the Spanish province of Badajoz
Cristina, a genus of harvestmen (daddy long-legs), eight-legged invertebrate animals

NICK

Variations for males include:

Albanian: Nikolla, Nikollë, Kola
Basque: Nikola
Bulgarian: Никола (Nikola), Николай (Nikolai)
Croatian: Niko, Nikola, Nikša
Czech: Mikula, Mikoláš, Mikuláš, Nikola
Danish: Claus, Klaus, Niels, Nikolaus, Nikolaj, Nilaus, Nis
Dutch: Klaas, Nico, Nicolaas, Niek, Nikolaas
English: Nic, Nick, Nickolas, Nicky, Nik, Nicolas, Nikolas
Esperanto: Nichjo, Nikolao
Estonian: Nigul
Finnish: Launo, Niilo, Niklas, Niko
French: Nicolas, Nico
Frisian (West): Klaes
Galician: Nicolau
Georgian: Nikoloz
German: Claus, Claas, Klaas, Klaus, Klas, Nickolaus, Nicolas, Nicolaus, Niklaus, Nikolaus, Niklas, Nico, Niko
Greek: Νικόλαος (Nicolaos), Νικόλας (Nikolas), Νίκος (Nikos)
Hungarian: Miklós, Nikola
Irish: Nioclás
Italian: Niccolò, Nico, Nicola, Nicolò, Nicolai
Latvian: Nikolajs, Niks
Lithuanian: Mikalojus
Macedonian: Nikola, Kole, Nikolce (Pronounced Nik-col-che)
Norwegian: Nils
Polish: Mikołaj
Portuguese: Nicolau

Brooks

2008-04-14T08:52:00.012-04:00

My friend Susan is in town visiting from South Carolina this week. Susan and I went to school together for two years, 8th & 9th grade, and have stayed in touch all these years since. I remember she was the very first person who talked to me that 8th grade year when no one else would. I was attending a new school after just having moved from Massachusetts to Florida and I didn't know a soul. She's here visiting with her family and while searching through old emails last week from the original call for entries for issue #1 I found her son Brooks' name story.

BROOKS

Brooks was named after my maternal grandmother. When Jeff and I got married we filled out one of those keepsake wedding books that has a family tree in it. When we filled it out, Jeff and I mentioned that we liked the name Brooks, which was my grandmother's maiden name. She was Lucille Brooks Dykes (Dykes was my mother's maiden name). My grandmother passed away when my mom was in the 3rd grade. I didn't know either of her parents and thought it a fitting tribute. We wanted a family name and a name that wasn't as plain as Jeff and Susan. Brooks' middle name is Ryan after Jeff's middle name. We wanted to be fair and pull from both families.

Also, my parents always told the story about my brother's name, he was going to be a David Alan instead of a John Perry Greene, IV since my great grandfather wasn't alive. My mom's OB came in and guilt tripped her about not giving their first born son part of his father's name, so he was renamed John Alan. I heard this story in my head when Brooks was born, so we gave Brooks Jeff's middle name so he could have part of his dad's name. My dad also points out, since we are a baseball family that there was a Brooks Robinson who played for Baltimore. So when he tells people Brooks, he says, you know like Brooks Robinson.

Here is way more information...we wanted to use Wesley too. Wesley was my brother who passed away before I was born. John Alan named his son James Wesley. James is after my mom's brother and Wesley after our brother. I don't know what it is but I guess John Allen and I have a way with naming our children after dead relatives, I guess to honor them and keep their memory alive.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

2008-04-11T11:14:00.001-04:00

I’m in the process of putting together the final content for issue #4 of Hello My Name Is and am still in need of one story. The illustration I have in mind is for a girl’s name, but I can easily switch it to a boy for the right name story! If you’d like to be featured in the next issue (and receive a free copy!) send your name story to info@cristinamontejo.com. It can be long or short, doesn’t matter - I look forward to them all. If I can’t include it in the next issue, look for your story in issue #5! THANKS!!

John Lucien continued

2008-04-11T11:10:00.005-04:00

While looking through old emails sent from friends and family in the original call for submissions for issue #1 , way back in the fall of 2006, I found this one from my friend John Lucien:

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My name reminds me of a play by Oscar Wilde:

Jack: Well, really, Gwendolen, I must say that I think there are lots of other much nicer names. I think Jack, for instance, a charming name.

Gwendolen: Jack? . . .No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations . . .

I have known several Jacks, and they all, without exception, were more than usually plain. Besides, Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And I pity any woman who is married to a man called John. She would probably never be allowed to know the entrancing pleasure of a single moment's solitude.

When this line was read aloud in my high school English class, my friend glanced at me with a superior grin on his face. I smacked him with my homework.

Signed:

John Lucien

Madison strikes a nerve

2008-04-10T21:15:00.007-04:00

Here are a couple of interesting articles I found on the net while researching baby name trends. They present contrasting views on the economics of baby naming. It's funny how the authors of both articles drive their conclusions home using the name Madison as the epitome of what they're trying to illustrate.

From the 2002 New York Times article How can the marketplace gauge fashions? Consider what to name the baby by Virginia Postrel:

Name choices, like clothing choices, reflect the desire to be different, but not too different. The ideal balance varies, and new fashions begin with innovators who want to stand out. If the innovations have the right aesthetic appeal, they spread to people who aren't as nonconformist.

And, from the 2005 Slate article Trading Up. Where do baby names come from? by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner:

There is a clear pattern at play: Once a name catches on among high-income, highly educated parents, it starts working its way down the socioeconomic ladder. Amber, Heather, and Stephanie started out as high-end names. For every high-end baby given those names, however, another five lower-income girls received those names within 10 years.

Aaron's new nickname

2008-04-10T00:43:00.005-04:00

From Hello My Name Is issue #1:

AARON

My mother wanted to name me Asa but changed her mind at the last minute, convinced that my entire life kids would taunt me and call me "asshole.”

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The other night Nick and I were talking about this name story since it’s about his brother Aaron. What if Aaron HAD been called Asa we wondered? Would Aaron have indeed been taunted relentlessly throughout chlidhood, forced to use his middle name Robert, eventually becoming Bob or Bobby?

“He doesn’t look like a Bobby,” I said, and Nick agreed. Bobby? No way. “What about Ace?” I said next and Nick completely agreed, yup, that’s exactly what it would have turned into. Then we talked about how we would call him Aesop since Aesop Rock’s nickname is Ace. How cool is that?

Still curious to find out what Aaron thought about it all, I called him last night and asked, “Hey, what IF your name was Asa?”

Aaron: Oh, well, when mom told me she was going to name me Asa, I immediately thought, COOL, then all my friends would have called me “Ace” which would have been so rad!! But then, my father stepped in.

So, we were right! I love how Aaron’s confidence and positive attitude would have turned this possibly awkward name during childhood into something really cool, special and enviable! My talk with Aaron also made me realize that I had gotten part of his name story wrong for issue #1. It was his dad who stepped in and said, “No!” to Asa, not a last minute decision on his mom’s part. Ha!

Aesop is totally Aaron’s new nickname.

Natalia translated

2008-04-09T13:59:00.010-04:00

The name story for Natalia is included in issue #2 of Hello My Name Is in an extremely edited version. I had to cut out so much good stuff because in the end I had about a 2" square to fit the text into. In addition to the 'zine story being highly edited, it's also in spanish which makes it difficult for all the non-spanish speakers. This is my mom's name story and I wanted to keep it in her native tongue, the way she told it to me. So, for this post I've not only included the original unedited story but also an english translation. Enjoy!

NATALIA

De mi nombre te diré qué cuando yo nací nadie sabía si era hembra o varón hasta el día del nacimiento. La mayoría de las personas si era varón le ponian el nombre del padre pero si era hembra le ponían el nombre del Santo de ese día. Lo podias ver en el calendario además qué en el radio

todas la mañanas decían los nombres de los Santos de ese día.

Así qué Mima decidió ponerme Natalia qué era ese día. Ademas habian dos mas, Eloy y Eligio, los dos de varón pero algunas personas si era hembra le ponían Eloísa o Eligia. Yo busqué en la internet y me salio la imagen de la Santa y la biografía pero en portugues. Pero como yo todavía me recuerdo del portugues lo pude leer fácilmente.

Esto sucedió en el año 305 después de Cristo. El emperador de Nicomedia, moderna Turquía, tenía dos prisioneros Cristianos, uno de ellos llamado Adriano, esposo de Natalia, al cual lo tenían amarrado por sus piernas y brazos muy torturados para que regresara a su antigua religion. Pero al ver que el no se aceptaba los romanos trataron de quemar su cuerpo, pero Natalia oró a Jesus con tanto fervor qué una lluvia inexplicablemente calló apagando el fuego. A causa de la gran confusión ella pudo rescatar el cuerpo y llevarlo para enterrarlo. Con sus manos ella abrió la tumba pero al terminar fue tanto el esfuerzo que murió junto al cadáver de su esposo.

Bueno, yo me entere de la historia por casualidad pues nunca había leído nada sobre Santa Natalia.

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About my name, I’ll tell you that when I was born nobody knew if I was a girl or a boy until the birth date. For the most part if you were a boy they would name you after your father but if you were a girl they would name you after the Saint of your birthday. You could find it in the calendar in addition to hearing it on the radio where they would say the names of the Saints for that day in the mornings.

So, my mother decided to name me Natalia which was the Saint attributed to my birthday. There were also two other Saints, Eloy and Eligio, both boys names, but some people would name their girls Eloísa or Eligia instead. I searched the Internet and found an image of Santa Natalia and a biography, but in Portuguese. As I still remember how to speak Portuguese I was able to read easily.

This happened in year 305 AD. The Emperor of Nicomedia, modern day Turkey, had two Christian prisoners, one of them Adriano (husband of Natalia) who was tortured and whose legs and arms were bound painfully so that he would return to his old religion. Upon seeing that he would not accept the ways of the Romans they tried to burn his body, but Natalia prayed to Jesus with such a fervor that an inexplicable, torrential rain fell and extinguished the fire. Due to the great confusion she was able to rescue his body and took him to be buried. She opened the tomb with her own hands but in the end the effort was too much for her and she died next to the corpse of her husband.

Well, I found out the history of my name by chance, I had never before read anything on Santa Natalia.

John and John

2008-04-08T17:50:00.038-04:00

John Allison and John Lucien are two examples of name stories which got cut short in the editing room due to space shortage (though not by that much.) I have a few friends named John and even though most of them are named after a relative, there always seems to be an interesting and unique fact or story to go along with their namesake. When putting my 'zine together I'm always on the look out for both common and exotic names as I've found they can both have equally intriguing histories.

JOHN ALLISON

My formal name is John Allison - Allison coming from a guy named "Allison Battle Humphries," a great grandfather of mine who was involved in early college football somehow. My dad wanted me named after someone in his family, my mother demanded I be named after someone in hers. So, I was named "John" (my dad's name) with a common name of "Jack" (my maternal grandfather's name.)

JOHN LUCIEN

I was named to honor both of my grandfathers. John is my mother's father and Lucien is my father's father. When I was born, the first child and a son, they must have been thinking "An heir! An heir!" Or, maybe they just weren't very creative.

Welcome!

2008-04-07T20:38:00.016-04:00

I conceived of this blog as an offshoot of Hello My Name Is, a 'zine I put out as frequently as possibly (which is not very) about people's names and how they got them. Pictured are images from issues #1 and #2, which is currently for sale on my website. Issue #2 is a limited edition of 50 hand drawn and assembled 'zines, inspired by a set of paper dolls I made. I'll be re-printing copies of issue #1 soon since the first run included only 16 copies, all of which went to either classmates or friends, and they should also be available for purchase soon! Most of the content for issue #3 is nearly complete but I still need to finish the drawings and collect two more name stories. Look for issue #3 this summer!

This blog is meant to exist as an extension of the 'zine since

there's so much more I envision for the project. For instance, the 'zine's small 4" x 4" format often forces large portions of name story submissions to be omitted during the editing process and I've always wanted a place to be able to share the unedited versions. Also, I'd like a place that consistently serves as a home base for name story sharing, where I can not only find new stories to use in my 'zine but where anyone and everyone can feel free to share something that's unique and important to them.

Another long-term goal for the blog is featuring monthly video podcast interviews of people telling their name stories in the flesh! The unique voice and personality of each person gives so much more depth and meaning to the story, it would be great to feature some of the more interesting ones

in video format. Beyond that, I have big dreams and plans to feature all sorts of short documentary-type interviews, from people who study names all over the world to those who work as id clerks at the DMV. Overall, I hope this project serves to show just how unique and interesting each of our individual histories are.