What's In A Name?

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been obsessed with names. I have had baby name books my entire life. And yes, in my quest to learn all about names, I do have perfect baby names picked out that I will only tell if I have kids!

Anyway, I find it fascinating to know more about what names mean and why people are named certain things. My name (pronounced A-nee-sa, by the way) is an Arabic name meaning "friendly or social." My great-grandmother was named Anise, and another great-grandmother had the middle name of Nisa, so my mom put them together. As a child, I hated my name. I was always having to correct teachers and everyone else. One of my college friends said my name clearly looked like it should be pronounced A-niss-a.

"But do you pronounce Anita 'A-nit-a' or 'A-nee-ta?'" I asked. My point was taken.

As I have grown up, I have come to love my name. I like its uniqueness, its meaning, its history. My middle name is Margrett, and was my grandmother's name. Her name is spelled like that because that is how her parent's thought it was spelled. I guess the spelling is closer to the actual pronunciation than Margaret. And I think it's interesting that Margrett means "pearl," and that is the gemstone that goes along with June, my birth month.

I think names are important; they will stay with us the rest of our lives. But a name isn't everything. I read in Freakonomics about a man who had two sons and named one of them Winner and the other Loser. Winner ended up in jail and Loser ended up going by "Lou" and becoming very successful. And there was the girl named Temptress who actually ended up as a prostitute. Her mother misread the name Tempestt Bledsoe in the opening credits of "The Cosby Show," but I can't help but wonder if her name had anything to do with her chosen profession.

True, we all create our own destiny, but a good name helps. No need to go through life being named Shithead (pronounced Shi-thead), a true name given according to Freakonomics. A name really does matter, and I have grown to truly love mine. Now if I can just convince Bert to change our last name to my maiden name...