N is for Names

I am obsessed with Names. From the time I was a little girl, I owned baby name books. I would study them at night, fascinated by the sounds and meanings of all the names. I loved the lists in the books that would have the most popular names listed by country. I still remember many of the "real" names of celebrities, a special section in my favorite baby name book.

Now with the internet, I find myself looking up names on sites such as this. I can't help it; my love of names has been with me most of my life. I thought it was so perfect that my mom's name (Rani - pronounced like Ronnie) means "Queen" in Sanskrit, while my sister's name (Sara) means "Princess" in Hebrew. It wasn't planned like that, but I always thought it was a great coincidence.

I love the history of names too. My mom's name isn't her birth name, but rather a nickname that stuck. My grandfather changed his last name to honor a saint. My name honors two of my great-grandmothers (Anise and one with the middle name Nisa) and my grandmother (middle name - Margrett). My given name literally means "friendly black-eyed pearl." I do like to think I'm friendly, I was born with black eyes (the meaning of my maiden name) and I was born in the month of June (and pearl is the birthstone). Again, not planned...but I think so interesting how it worked out.

Hopefully, one day I will have children of my own and can name them the secret names I have chosen. Sure, they will hate their names just like we all do when they're kids, but I hope one day they would grow to love them - just like I do mine.

Labels: alphabet