When it comes to individuals, there’s nothing that makes you more “you” than your name. While you can’t always choose your name, it does make you who you are and, it becomes a part of your developing personality and persona. But, like Shakespear said, “What’s in a name?” How do we get the unique and special name that makes us who we are? For many, it’s a long story that our parents explain to us as we get older. And, some of them can be quite embarrassing.
1.
My parents couldn’t decide on a name and a few days before I was born watched a documentary on the last Tsarina of Russia who was murdered along with the rest of her family, the Romanovs. It “inspired” them hence my name is Alexandra ….just like the murdered Tsarina.
2.
My first name is Bree which was unusual for the late 70’s. When people would ask my parents where they came up with my name they gave a standard default answer that it was a family name. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I realized we have no family members other than me named Bree. My dad finally told me that when my mom was pregnant they were at the movies and my mom really liked the name of Jane Fonda’s character, so they picked that as my name. The movie was Klute and Jane Fonda played a hooker. My parents didn’t feel it would be appropriate to tell me I was named after a hooker until I got older. Thanks Mom and Dad!
3.
I have heard two stories to explain how I got my name. The first one was that it was the name of my mother’s ex-boyfriend’s daughter and she fell in love with the name and the second was that I was named after my mother’s favorite soap opera character who had died in a boating accident on the show.
4.
My dad liked the song ‘Brandy’ by Looking Glass and wanted that to be my name. My mom didn’t think it was formal enough, so she made up Brandella. I actually hated my name when I was younger because it was so weird, but now I really love it. I always joke that I’m the only Brandella you’ll ever meet, but it’s actually not true. I know of one other Brandella in the universe and she has the same middle name as me also! Freaky!
5.
So to start off I should mention my mom was a teenager was I was born. Originally she wanted to name me Kristen. At school one day one of her classmates suggested the name Taya. My mom loved it but instead of dropping the Kristen or the middle name picked she just tacked Taya on the front. So I have two middle names.
6.
I was well on the way, and my parents hadn’t thought of a name for me yet. Then, one fateful evening, my parents were watching “My Cousin Vinny,” starring Marisa Tomei. When the credits rolled, they decided “Marisa” was as good a name as any, and that was that. Tomei won an Oscar for the role, so at least my parents have good movie opinions even if they didn’t put much thought into my name.
7.
My name is Kelsey and I found out I was named after a McDonald’s commercial. My parents were watching tv and a commercial came on where a dad was teaching his little girl to ride a bike. He held onto the back of the seat and when she picked up momentum he let go and she kept peddling down the street. The dad then yelled “Kelsey! Where are you going?!” and the little girl replied “to McDonald’s!”
Funny story, my first job was a cashier at McDonald’s lol
8.
When my parents were thinking of names, my mom like “Caitlin”. My dad wasn’t a fan, saying it was too Irish, which we are not. One day, they went to a county fair and were looking at the cows in the barn. One of the cows had won a blue ribbon and her name was displayed above it. Her name was Katelynn and my parents both agreed that that was a very different and unique take on the name. So I am named after a blue-ribbon winning cow.
9.
My mom was expecting my brother in 1977 during a notorious blizzard in Buffalo. She heard Frosty the Snowman’s girlfriend was named Crystal and decided if she had a girl, that’s the name she loved. Well, she had to wait ten years for me to come along and in that time decided that she wouldn’t spell it the traditional way but took the spelling of Krystle from Love Boat. By the time I was born, my mom couldn’t decide right away which names she loved best and I ended up with two middle names. Made filling out paperwork a lot of fun! Thanks, mom!
10.
My name is Dennika Rose
The ‘den’ is from my mums name Denise
The other N is from my grandfathers name Denis
The I is from my sister’s name Belinda
The K is from my dads name, Kevin
The A is from my brothers name Matthew
And the Rose is from my grandmother Rosemary
11.
My parents named me after Tirzah from the movie Ben-Hur. My dad, however, likes word plays, and had my middle name “Joy.” So my name is Tirzah Joy, literally pronounced, “tears of joy.”
12.
My parents literally opened a dictionary, saw the word ‘fin,’ thought it was cool, and just made up the name Phinita. What?
13.
My mom had me when she was 16, and named me Rayden after a character in her favorite video game, Mortal Kombat.
14.
When my mom was 15 she watched The Exorcist and loved the name Regan. She decided her firstborn daughter would be named Regan, so I was named after a possessed little girl.
15.
My mom named me after Merry Christmas because I was born in December and she was high on the epidural. But she flipped it and named me Christina Marie.
16.
My parents were sure they were having a boy, and decided to name the baby after my dad, David. Cut to the day of labor and my dad didn’t get the junior he was expecting. So, with no back up, they slapped an ‘a’ at the end of my dad’s name and Davida was the result.
17.
My name is Ashley Nicole because my dad messed up. Mom wanted to name me Alicia Nichole however she wasn’t present when the nurse came in with the birth certificate so my dad went ahead and filled it out, realized he didn’t know how to spell Alicia so he went with the closest name he COULD spell- Ashley. He also forgot to put the H in Nichole so that’s why my name is Ashley Nicole.
18.
My parents were set on naming me Alexandra when my mom had a vivid dream where I came to her and said, ‘That’s not my name. My name is Julia.’ My mom woke up, unnerved, so to feel better she turned on the ‘Beatles block’ on the radio. The first song to play was ‘Julia’ from the White Album. My mom considered it fate and named me Julia.
19.
My daughter looked a little like a cartoon duck in her first sonogram picture, so we nicknamed her ducky. Later, while looking for names, we found that Della was Donald Duck’s sister (and Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s mom). We instantly knew that Della would be her name.
20.
I was named Jenipher (yes, that spelling) because my dad was watching the news one day and a reporter came up with that name and spelling. He decided it would be unique enough for me and went with it.
21.
I was named after my cousin who ended up becoming my adopted sister (long Oprah-worthy tale). Our name is spelled Daune but pronounced as Dawn. Our Dad combined two different names for the spelling and we’ve been called Duane our whole lives. Or Dianae, Davne, Donna, darnay, dina, dawny, delta dawn, dawn of the dead, dawn of the deadheads etc lol.
22.
I’m Macy and my mom went into labor at Macy’s. She was buying maternity clothes (which she returned before going to the hospital, I swear) when she went into labor. She didn’t have a name picked out because I was six weeks early so she and my dad picked the first name that came to mind.
23.
My mom named me after my aunts old cabbage patch doll from when they were kids. First AND middle name.