Behind My Name

 

Behind My Name

 

            My name is Miriam, but my family sometimes calls me Yam or Mir. When I was

 

young, my brother usually made joke about my name because my mother took it from

 

One of our brilliant senators in the Philippines. She was a smart, intelligent woman.

 

Who was very helpful and fought for the rights of everybody. She always believed that

 

Right is always right and justice for everybody. However, I am not that woman. I always

 

told my mother. “That she gave the name to the wrong person, and she usually said no.

 

That I am generous and always taking care of them even though I am the youngest in

 

the family. I became the bread winner.

 

            Although my personality is different than this senator is name, Miriam Defensor

Santiago, one thing I liked or loved about my name is that I was raised by my family to

 be a responsible person and know the word respect. Although may not be as smart as

her. I’m proud of having the name Miriam. An Independent woman.

 

MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO

Miriam Defensor Santiago - Earned the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cumlaude; and Bachelor of Laws, Cumlaude from the University of the Philippines. Went on a fellow ship to the United States, and earned the Master of laws and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees at the University of Michigan Ann Harbor.

        Was a Filipino scholar, academic, lawyer, judge, author and statewoman who served in all three branches of the Philippines government: judicial, executive and legislative. Was named one of The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World in 1997 by The Australian.

 

 

 

My Dear

            It is always hard for me to explain my name to people, but it doesn't mean I don't like it. Most people think I'm Arabic because my country is in the Middle East. I don't blame them; because the history and geography of the Middle East is complicated. It is true that most of the countries in Middle East are Arabic countries, but not my country, Iran.

I'm Persian, and I speak Farsi. Maybe I can say I speak one of the oldest languages, and I'm happy that my family chose a Persian name for me, because using Arabic, English or Turkish names is also common in my country. My name was in old books and poetry from Persian writers, and poets in old days like Hafez, Saadi or Rumi. My name comes from the word Naz, it is the word that we use when we want to mention something as lovely, beautiful, or cute. But my name is also used to say a person is dear. My Nazanin means my dear.

In the old days, when writers or poets wanted to read a poetry or a story that contained a life lesson, they started their poetry or their story by calling the readers my Nazanin. The act of sharing life lessons and experiences was a gift that they wished to offer to their dear readers. While Nazanin is a common name in Iran, for me it's a special name. It brings me joy when I read Persian poetry, and I can find my name there.

An Uncommon Name

 An Uncommon Name

       My name is Weibin Tan, and the Hanzi are 谭伟斌. I have used it since I was born. I like my name because it is not common. I have only met one person whose name is the same as me until now. The important thing is that there are not any other words that can describe my name. For example, I have a friend named Guodong, and 果冻 are the same pronunciation in China. 果冻 means jelly, so we always made fun of his name.  My name was given to me by my father. I heard that my parents discussed my name for three days before I was born. They told me the meaning in China is that I can study and exercise well because Bin(斌) can be divided into two parts. 文 means study, and 武 means exercise. In addition, I was not named after anyone because I am one of the older people in my generation. My cousins are all younger than me. Moreover, I have a younger brother who was named after me. His name is Weijie Tan. Finally, the word shy comes to my mind when I think about my name. I think the reason is that I am so shy. In addition, my name is difficult to write in Chinese. My last name Tan(谭) has 14 strokes, and Bin(斌) has 12 strokes. In short, this is my name’s introduction, and I do not want to change my name. 

The Beauty

Jamila Valiyeva

 My name is Jamila. Jamila is an Arabic word that means beauty or beautiful. Since I was a child, I did not like my name. I thought that I had a difficult and long name. I always hoped that when I would become a grownup, I would immediately change my name. However, at the age of fifteen, I started to like my name, especially when people told me that this name suits me because in their opinion, I am beautiful. That is why I changed my mind and started to like it.  The only thing that is a bit awkward for me is that Spanish speakers pronounce my name with an “H” like Hamila. In fact, Hamila means “pregnant” in Azerbaijani, and it is funny but also not because automatically I start to laugh, and people get confused. Although my parents did not know how to name me. They changed my name for three times. Sometimes, I am glad that they did, but sometimes I think that would I like it as I do like Jamila. Frankly, I have no idea. That is why I like and am glad that I was named Jamila.

Marieluchis

Marieluchis

In a crazy way, my parents decided my name when my mom was giving birth. They had the opportunity to think of my name for nine months, but they preferred to think of the name when I was born. My dad thought of the name Gregoria because my dad’s name is Gregorio, but my mom for some reason didn’t like it. After thirty minutes in the hospital, they said that Mariela was the perfect name for me.

It is certain that I for sure was not named after someone, but if I had been, it would have been pretty cool. I like my name because it is very pretty. The one and only thing I don’t like about my name is that it I can’t say that it isn’t unique, because I know several other people with that name.

My name doesn’t have any significant meaning or at least that is what I think. I could be wrong, but even if one day I ever had the opportunity to change my name, I wouldn’t because I love it.

 

Medal

            My name is Wissam. My mother was the one who chose my first name. I did not know the significance or the meaning of my name, but I believe that she named me after one of her old best friends. They shared a lot of experiences together such as school, university, pregnancy, etc.

            I do not really like my name, and I have always tried not to think about it. I recently did some research, and it seems that Wissam means badge of honor or medal. This research has changed my mind. I discovered that my first name matches my personality because I am a person who always does her best to succeed, achieve her goals, and win the life medal for different situations.

            To name someone is really difficult because each person has their own preference. A lot of people think that their name should represent their personality, and they have to feel good about it. Not everybody will agree with this mindset because not feeling good about oneself does not mean that the problem comes from the name of the person, but it can be something else. For example, some people change their name, and they still feel bad about themselves.

             In the future, I will do my best to name my children with a nice name even though there is a chance that they will probably not like it.

An Unexpected Name

Lismar Acosta

An Unexpected Name

    Smart and Ocean are the words in Spanish that will help people remember my name. Although my name is not common to hear and it doesn’t have a  particular meaning, I like it because it is pretty and unique. If someone asks me if would change my name, I will say no, but the story behind my name is weird and unexpected.

    Peter, my brother, chose my name. I thought that my parents chose it, but I was wrong. I never expected that my brother was the person who chose my name because he didn’t like the idea of having another sister. Lismar. My family never heard that name before and that made the family curious. After repeating the name Lismar more than ten times, they decided that it would be perfect.

    In Venezuela, which is the country that I come from, there is a tradition that most families create the names of their babies by choosing the names of the siblings or grandparents and putting them together. My parents thought that the name came from my sister, Helimar. They assumed that my brother just deleted the H and E, and added an S in the middle of I and M. When I was seven years old, I asked my mom why they liked my name, and my mom said that it came from my sister Helimar because it is also a beautiful name. Everything was going great until I turned fifteen and my brother told us the real story behind my name. Peter decided to tell everybody the story of my name in my fifteen years party. When my brother was twenty years old, he was obsessed with a woman called Lismar Bravos, who was a porn actress. On a Sunday morning, my mom told my siblings that they should help her choose a name, and my brother without thinking twice said “Lismar is a beautiful name”. Everyone in the family agreed, so I was named after a porn actress. Everyone, especially my parents, was shocked; even the DJ was shocked after listening the story. People laughed about that, but I was not uncomfortable with the situation, instead, I started to laugh too.

    My name is perfect, and I love it, but every time that someone asks me about where my name comes from, I have to say that I was named after my sister but I little bit different. Sometimes, it is funny to remember the moment when my brother just decided to tell me where he picked that name. Brothers should not choose the name of their little sister because maybe the parents will never know the real story behind it.