Friday, September 11, 2009

What's in a name?

Who is your namesake?
What's the story behind your parents naming you?
What does your name mean?
Do you have any great "name" anecdotes to share?

As we begin reading our first book together this year, Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, we will share all of the trivia that we know about our names. The questions above should get you thinking about your name, and you should talk to your family about your naming process if you don't know the story. You could even research what your name means. These will be fun stories to share on Monday, September 14, so be prepared to do so when you get to class.



Over the weekend I want you to comment on this blog post with one or two fun facts about your name.



Also, don't forget to read pages 22-47 in The Namesake!



Have a great weekend--we deserve it!

52 comments:

  1. Nelson means son of a champion or son of Neil origins in old english. From Nelson Harrington period 2

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  2. *I think my mom told me that she named me after the actress Alyssa Milano
    *It's Greek, it means noble/rational
    *Derived from the yellow, white, pink, or purple Alyssum flower. First used in popularity as a girl's name in 1963 and listed among the top 100 in 1986, just two years after actress Alyssa Milano began her career on the television sitcom, "Who's the Boss?" The name has continued to climb among the top 20, likely due to the fashionable "y" in the middle spelling.
    -Alyssa Wilson 2nd hour

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  3. My mom named me after my grandfather David, in the Jewish tradition of giving a child a name that starts with the same letter as a different relative. Daniel was already taken, so she chose Dustin. I think I read somewhere that it means "warrior."

    -Dustin M-L, 1st hour

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  4. The name Annie means 'blessed with grace', although that's not why my mom chose this name. My grandma, Carolyn Anne Fittipadi, wanted to help my mom name me, so she suggested I be named after her, but my mom wanted to name me Annie. Then after a while my mom came to the conclusion that I my full name would be Carolyn Anne Fittipaldi, but that I woud be called 'Annie' for short. When I was in 2nd grade, we went on a trip to the Cayman Islands, and on my passport it said 'Carolyn Anne Fittiipaldi' not Annie, and the picture was outdated. When we got to security, they thought that I had a fake passport, because when they asked me my name I said Annie, but then my mom said that she goes by Annie, and that Carolyn Anne was my full name, and they said 'ok.'

    Annie Fittipaldi 2nd hour

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  5. apparently, when i went to daycare in iowa, no one could pronounce my name (zhonghao), so my parents decided to give me an english name. Leon is from an R-rated movie made in 1994 called Leon. Where Leon is an paid assassin who befriends a young girl. So fitting......

    here is the link to the movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Léon_(film)

    Leon Wang 1st hour

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  6. My name Usman means rich and wealthy. My parents gave me this name because when we lived in New York my family was poor and had very little money, so they named me Usman hoping that I would be rich and bring money to the family.

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  7. I got my name Annie from my mother's side of the family. My real name is Anne Kathryn. My mother's name is Kathryn Anne. My parents decided to flip my mom's name and make it mine. Also, my Aunt's name is Nan. Which is like Anne without the A. So I too got named after her. As I got older I went by the nickname of Annie. Then I developed a close friend named Annie also. So my mom started calling me Annie Kate so Annie and I would not get our names mixed up when we were together. That's the story of my name! :)

    Annie Thorndyke
    Hour 1

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  8. I was named Julia not because it was my great grandma's name or my mom's middle name.......but because my parents just thought it was pretty. It means 'youthful' or soft-haired? Yes, soft-haired. I have no idea what that even is supposed to mean. But even though I have no origin, I still love my name. My middle name was named after my mom's best friend, Christine. Christine means Christian, and annointed.

    Period 2

    Have a great weekend!!!

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  9. At first, the doctors said I was going to be a girl, so my parents picked out the name, Michelle. But then, when I was born, I turned out to be a guy, so they had to rapidly come up with a name. Being Chinese, there was this tradition where you had be named a certain way, so that all your cousins would have the same second character as you, for example 羅厚澤 and 羅厚成; both had the 厚. My Chinese name meant God's grace, so my parents named me Ivan because it was similar to what my Chinese name meant.

    Ivan, Hour 1

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  10. I was named Mara because my grandma’s name is Margaret. My mom wanted me to be named after her but my dad wanted it to be a little different so they went with Mara. My middle name is named after my other grandma Joan, they decided to shortened it to Jo. That is how I got my name, from both of my grandmas!

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  11. All the doctors thought I was going to be a boy so my name was going to be "Rutger" which means renowned spearmen. Thank goodness, I wasn't a boy. So Instead they named me "Celine". It comes from the french origin and means moon. Sorry I don't really have a cool story on how that name was chosen. :(

    Celine Henke P. 2

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  12. "Shannon" means "small and wise". My mom wanted to choose a name that didn't end with an A, because that's what our last name starts with. Also, my mom kind of has a thing for Irish names, which is very fitting because we live in Edina! Both of my parents agreed on Shannon, simply because they liked it. I have lived on Shannon Drive my entire life, and for about 5 years they had me tricked that the city had named the street after me! My middle name is elizabeth, named after my grandmother. There's not much to my name, sorry.

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  13. Shannon Awes, 1st Hour

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  14. I like to think of my middle and first name's as hagndmedowns because My great grandmother on my mom's side was named Kate and she died pretty young and left my grandpa alone for awhile so he remarried my step great grandmother named Emma. My mom wanted my full name to be KateEmma, but my dad didn't agree I guess so now it's just kate Emma Belschner. (not Katharine JUST kate:) I've always liked that my name was a nickname from katharine because when people call Katharine's kate im like, nope that's my name fool! just kidding:)
    My name's origin is Irish and the Name meaning is a "Pure".

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  15. My first name, Kali, was named after the evil indian goddess of destruction. That really kind of sucks, but in greek it means rose petal or lotus blossom...something like that anyway. My middle name, Manmit, is of indian origin and named after my aunt.

    Kali Kanwar, hour 2

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  16. My name doesn't really have a meaning it just took place of another name which is James. All my siblings names had really glorious meanings. My brother Shane's name means gift from God, my sister Gabrielle's name means woman of God and my youngest sister Bobbie's name means bright fame. So I am the odd one out. The really cool thing about me is that I have the same 3 initials for my first,middle and last name. My full name is Jamie Jacinda Jones. I was called J cubed because of this. So my name is pretty unique compared to my siblings.

    Jamie Jones
    2nd Hr.

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  17. I got my name, Ashley, from my second cousin. It means ash tree clearing. I also found out that up until the 1960s, it was mostly a boy name. My sister on the other hand, Ali, got her name after the actress Ali Macgraw, whom my mom thought was amazing. Ali means noble. So I get ash tree clearing, and she gets noble. Great! Although, Ali and I both share the middle name Jo, which is my grandma's and my mom's middle name too. I guess that's fair enough.

    -Ashley Eickhoff hour 2

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  18. The name Maria means "bitter" in Hebrew. but its Latin for Mary. My other name is Isabel which is Hebrew which means "my God is a vow".I got my name from my grandmother. i was my grandparent first granddaughter. so she wanted to name me after her Maria Isabel. At first my mom didn't want to but eventually accepted.
    hour:2

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  19. I got my name Elizabeth, because that was my mom's favorite name for a girl, she also said it was "solid and old fashioed" ..I'm not really sure what solid means though. She also said that there are many nicknames that you could get from Elizabeth, even though to this day she will not call me anything other than that.


    many nicknames, and mothers favorite name "solid old fassiond name.."

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  20. sorry at the bottom are just notes that i forgot to delete..

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  21. My middle name "Lee" was passed down to me, it is my aunt's middle name and also my grandma's middle name, and was at one point my great-grandma's last name. I read somewhere that Lee means meadow.

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  22. Once upon a time on a chilly Halloween night a very special, handsome, advanced being was born at some saint named hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The day was a hallowed day to many people in many cultures it is a day were the barrier between the living and the dead is broken. But none of that has anything to do with how the boys name came to be unfortunately. His mother took the easy road and named him after the male that helped to concieve him. That name is Rodney Micheal Sheppard jr. and it sounds like a great name for someone of importance. Rodney means a renown island, and Micheal is a angel warrior leader, and Sheppard is a different spelling of the English version Shepherd which is the one who looks over sheep. So I got lucky.

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  23. I was named Ryan Stephen after two things. I was named Ryan because my mom wanted an Irish name to represent her maiden name McNamara, and Ryan also means regal. I was named Stephen after my dad.
    Ryan Gaertner 2nd Hour

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  24. Keagan-

    My name was partialy an effect of my older brother "ordering" me. He really wanted a little brother and always called me "baby K". Then my parents went through the "K" section of name finding the name Keegan, which my mom always liked which translates to red and firey one. To this my mom meant that the child would be energetic and passionate. Of cours my parents had other names but when the doctor held me up I was pink in the face and healthy and then my dad said: "We have a Keagan". Instead of spelling my name Keegan, they changed it to Keagan because they were afraid of me being nicknamed kegger in college because of the similarities. My middle name holt which is norwegian for "small clearing in the forest". It was my mom's mom's maiden name and I was born on her birthday. Holt had always been a family name ever since my ancestors imigrated to the USA from Norway. By the time my mom's grandfather arived there were too many johnsons so he chose the word hat described where he grew up and made it into his last name instead. And that's how my name came to be Keagan Holt Potts.

    Keagan H. Potts, hour 1

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  25. My parents debated even after three days from the point I was born, to pick my name. I was initially going home from the Hospital as Bridget Shannon. If my Dad wouldn't have called my Mom at four in the morning, I would be that name today. He said, "She just doesn't look like a Bridget..". My Dad's father's side of the family is 100% Irish, so he wanted to go with an Irish name. My name was to be decided from either Devin or Kelly. There was a young volunteer working at the hospital named Devin, and my dad decided he liked her name. After long hours of debating he finally asked Devin, "We just can't decide what to name her. Devin or Kelly?" Devin said, "Oh, definitely Kelly." Fortunately I am Kelly today because I can't picture myself as anything but Kelly. As for my middle name, Anne, it was my grandmother's middle name, and my older cousins middle name, so my parents decided to name me Kelly Anne. Another reasoning for my middle name is my mom's mom wanted be to be named after a Saint, Saint Anne. After being told these stories nearly 26 times, I decided to find the origin of my name. Kelly, a strong Irish name, means "a strong female warrior" which personally, I think describes me perfectly. In the end, Kelly was a perfect name for me.

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  26. My parents thought very hard about my name. Being the youngest they wanted a name that would sound very different from my siblings but also something that fit my last name. They came up with Megan Lee. My first name doesnt come from anything but it means "a pearl". My middle name is a very common name in my family. Both my mom and my grandma have it as thier middle name. I am very happy with my name and glad my parents chose it.

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  27. The name Sam means 'God hears'. It's a really common name. My parents were trying to think of different names, but my Dad mainly named me. he wanted to call me Sam because he thought it sounded cool. They really had no reason why they named me this. They just liked how the name sounded. My parents are really glad they named me this, because they think it still fits my personality.

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  28. Ian A-k Period 2,
    There's no reason really why I was named Ian Matthew A-K except my initials spell out I.M.A.K which is like I am A-K. Also, another cool thing about my name is that I was born on 4/7 so it's like the gun AK-47. There's nothing so special about my name but I enjoy the nickname A-K or AK-47.

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  29. The name Camille means "perfect" which I find ironic. I'm definetely not perfect, but I'm very organized. When my mom grew up she had a close friend named Camille, and then when she also was a Med student she had another frined too named Camille. So when she found out I was on the way, my dad and mom were looking through the family tree and found that I had a great grandfather named Alcide Camille Demules. Therefore it worked out perfectly.

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  30. I share the same name, Philip, as my uncle and also my great granpa. I think my mom really wanted me to have this name becasue her grandpa was a great man. The name Philip is greek that means "Lover of Horses" which is awesome.

    Philip 2nd hour

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  31. If you were to ask my grandma how i got my name she would say i was named after my great aunt. But the truth is thats just a Coincidence. My name was really just picked right out of a book because my parents thought it sounded good. The name Claire meansis of Latin origin, and the meaning is clear or pure.

    Claire Hughes 1st hour

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  32. My name: Danny means God is my Judge but that had no significance going in to naming me. My parents choose it because they liked the sound of it. My middle name is Steven which is my dads first name which is like awesome!

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  35. The story behind my naming being Haley isn't that great of a story. My dad's best friend in High School just had a daughter named Haley, right away my mom fell in love with that name so she went to them and asked if they would be mad if she named her daughter Haley also. The name Elizabeth, Ann, and Mary run in my mom's side of the family, so my mom made a promise to herself that my name wouldn't have to do with any of those names. Unfortunately Haley is irish for "field of hay" cute right?!..NOT! I also found that Haley is Scandinavian meaning "brave" and "heroic", I like this meaning much better. My middle name is Nicole which is greek for "people's victory" which is cool. Personally I think the Scandinavian meaning for Haley fits me perfectly!

    -Haley Madson
    Hour 2

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  36. I am named after my dad, William Patrick Kelly. He was named after his uncle, so my great uncle. William translates to strong willed warrior. Even though it comes from the Irish side of my family, it is infact a German name.

    Will Kelly

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  37. I got my middle name Clark because that was my mom's maiden name. Clark means Scholar which in a way fits mean cause I like to think that I am smart. Also it means clerk or somebody who sells stuff. I like this name though cause it ties me to my moms side of my family, and I have always like it better than my last name.

    Tom Balke
    hour 2

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  38. My name, Alec, comes from the actor Sir Alec Guinness. My father, George, being a large fan of the actor, as an example his favorite movie is Lawrence of Arabia which Alec Guinness had a large part in, named me after Sir Guinness. My mother had no part in naming myself, other than agreeing with my father.

    -Alec D. 1st Hour.

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  39. Sofia is not a family name. However, both of my parents are swedish/norwegian so they wanted to choose a scandinavian name.In addition, it is also greek, spanish, and portuguese. The meaning of my name is wisdom.

    Sofia Halgren
    1st Hour

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  40. Hey Mr.s Hatten its Dan Davila from 2 period english ten

    When i asked my mom what the story behind my name was she sadly said that there wasn't anything special about the name Daniel. I asked her about my last name but since it wasn't he maiden name she did know anything bout it. When i asked her about me middle a somewhat interesting story came up. My middle name is Alexander and she told me that my great uncle, Alejandro Acosta was a famous actor in cuba way back when. My mom liked the name Alejandro but decided that the american version would be better. My family had a debate for weeks before i was born to decide if i Should be named Daniel or Alexander. Everyone but my mom wanted to name me Daniel so she went with it. I wonder what it would have been like to be named Alexander Daniel Davila.

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  41. I was named after my two great grandpas, Jacob and Micheal. Jacob from my dads side and Micheal from my moms side. My parents were considering making my name Micheal Jacob fischer but they decided on Jacob Micheal Fischer instead.

    Jake Fischer hour 2

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  42. my name nathan is of hebrew oragince meaning god has given. as in a phrophacy. and i was going to be named dennis like my grandpa and dad but since my brother was nammed dennis i was named nate. i was going to be named josh also but my mom decided there is to many "shh" sounds. my name Nathan was God's prophet during the reigns of David and Solomon, :)- nathan walsh perioud 1

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  43. I was named after my great grandpa Joe Babjak. He was very close to my dad when he was growing up. One story that he told my dad was that when he was 17 he almost got drafted into the Hungarian army for the first world war. the town that he lived in didn't want him to go to war, so they pooled most of their money togeather to send him to the U.S. with only three dollars in his pocket. That is the story of how I got my name.

    Joe Toth hour 1

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  44. My parents named me because there was an ongoing tradition in our family that all of the boys had to start with the letter "B". For example Brad Baker, Brendan Baker, and Brian Baker. Brian means high, or noble.

    Brian Baker Hour 4

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  45. My name, Peter, came from my great-grandpa on my mom's side, and then my middle name James was from my grandpa on my dad's side. All my siblings and I have our first/middle name(s) from my mom's side, and then we have our dad's last name to make it even. The name "Peter" means stone, or rock which isn't very flattering but that's ok. Since Peter is a very common name, I'm often in the situation where someone will say the name "Peter" and I'll respond in some embarassing way because I thought they were talking to me.

    Peter Sakaguchi hour 2

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  46. I was named Cailyn because it had to start with a 'C'. My oldest sister is named Crystal and my older sister is named Corinna, so my parents wanted to uphold the 'C' names. Cailyn means pure. My middle name, Victoria, was chosen by my dad because he thought it was beautiful and he thought it went together nicely with Cailyn. Victoria means victory or winner.

    Cailyn Couchman
    Hour 2

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  47. Mikey Libbey English 10 1st hour

    My parents liked the name Michael because it was strong, solid and straight forward. The nickname Mikey is what I was called when I was a baby and I never change back to Mike or Michael. Michael means "Who resembles god." My middle name is my dad's name, Scott.

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  48. My parents just like my first name but my middle name is because i was born on christmas so my middle name is noel!

    Allie Rooney 2nd hour

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  49. My folk named me Grant after the president on the fifter dollar bill. The reason why people call me Rudy is because my last name is Rutkiewicz and no one can pernounce it correctly. My nickname was Ruty with a "t" but peopld still didnt understand. So now its just Rudy. All my athletic coaches, teammates and some close friends, even my grandparents call me Rudy. In a way im proud of the name because i dont really like "Grant". so i would prefer people to call me Rudy

    Rudy Rutkiewicz 1st hour

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  50. The way I was named Jackson was that the main character in the movie "Romancing the Stone" is named Jack Colton. This is my father's favorite movie. He was played by Michael Douglas, a famous actor at the time. My dad's last name is Colton. He thought it would be cool to call me Jack Colton, in honor of the movie. My mother adamantly refused because Jack is a common nickname for John, and felt teachers would be confused, thinking my real name is John. They compromised by naming me Jackson. Also, on my mother's side of the family, many people were named John, which is related to the name Jackson. My name means "son of Jack", which really has nothing to do with my name. One kind of funny thing about my name is that plenty of people (including teachers) think my name is Colton Jackson.

    Jackson Colton first hour

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  51. Theres nothing really special about my name. My parents had chosen the name Margaret when they found out I was a girl, simply because they liked the way it sounded. My middle name Elizabeth, however, was chosen because it was my dad's sisters name. All the childern in my family's middle names are after my dad's brother and two sisters. The name Margaret means "pearl" or "precious jewl" in greek, one of the many reasons i love my name!

    Maggie Wyatt- 1st Hour

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  52. my name is hector which means latin king, my mom gave me my name. all my siblings names start with H as well. my little brother and i both have unique names as my sister heather name is common. is there any name you love ?

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