I used to hate my name. It wasn’t ‘normal’, it wasn’t like everyone elses. I wasn’t a Katie, Sarah or Amanda. My middle name wasn’t Lynn, Nicole or Ann.
When I came home in second or third grade and told my mom that my friend Holly was going to call me Marie, I thought her head was going to explode. “I didn’t name you that!” she said in a high pitched voice.
I guess it’s because a lot of my friends are having/had babies. Naming is a hard thing I would guess. I mean it’s going to be someone’s name forever, that’s a long time. Well unless you name them something awful and they change it when they are older, but with all that paperwork it must be something horrid. Or you could be like Pheobe from friends and change your name to Princess Bananahammock. Ok, I’m off track here.
So I spent most of my younger years cursing that my name was a little unusual. At the time you couldn’t find Maria stickers and monogrammed stuff at the stores (at least where I lived in the great state of Michgian). You can now, just fyi. And to add to the horror my middle name was unheard of unless you flew 2,000 miles west to the Pacific islands of Hawaii.
You see where this is going right? No probably not, I don’t feel transparent today. Kat was talking about personal branding not too long ago and I started thinking about this. Not only is my whole name unique to me (which I use for another blog) but so is the nickname my parents and close friends use (ria) added to my middle name (leilani) that became my blog home. It makes it easy to split my personal and professional sides on the internet.
So thank you Mom for my name, for it being unique to me and for getting pissed whenever I wanted to change it. I think it fits me well.
Where does your blog name come from?
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14 Responses to “what’s in a name”
Mine actually comes from me wanting to make Live It, Love It the phrase on the front page of my old Nokia cellphone. (Remember those?) But it didn’t fit, so I had to shorten it. Now I’m glad I did!
you have another blog?
annnd my blog name Emma Elizabeth is actually the name i have picked out if i ever have a baby girl (that deicision will probably change, but for now I like Emma). I’ve sorta changed it back to It’s a Glamorous Life by Emma Elizabeth (because IAGL was my first blog that i had to move from due to a friend who stalked my blog). So there ya have it!
mine stands for my initials and my annoyance that people automatically think its something related to dave matthews band
it has happened since about 1995. i had those initials first!
I used to hate my middle name SO much. But I love it now because I don’t know anyone with that. So I can feel you on the name thing.
And my blog name came from a crazy media professor who said my handwriting was stylish, but hard to read. Could I please print for exams? Haha.
okay, it makes me laugh that Maria was an uncommon name (in MI at least).
I like interesting middle names, but it can be… uncomfortable when you’re younger. but it can also be endearing. my 1st girlfriend loved to call me by it, which still makes me chuckle. it’s as long as my full first and last names combined. and no, it’s not moxycrimefighter.
zoom comes from the nickname we had for our baby in the womb. boy? girl? we wanted to be surprised. (fun fact: I found Emma Elizabeth’s blog because it was my girl’s name!)
my other fake name appeared on the attendance list for my HS English class. no student ever showed up. we used to save a seat for him, like Elijah. I’ve googled and searched and never found anyone by that name. but it sounds cool.
I wish I had a cute story about my name, but I don’t. It just is how I felt when I created the blog, unsatisfied with things, and a 20-something. Plus I tend to ramble, so that’s where that part came in.
I like unique names, although working in a pediatrician’s office, you seem some that are really off-the-wall and wonder what the parents were thinking! I would never think that about yours though!
Ooh, I love this post!
Ok, my real name is 100% unique in that it was made up by my great great-grandmother. It was a combination of two different names. When I was younger, I wanted to be named something else SO bad: Ashley, Kelsey, etc. Something cute and girlie. Not something that EVERYone mispronounced. (Say it phonetically. Seriously, that’s all there is to it).
As I got older, I grew to love it. I decided last year to totally own it (which is why my other blog bears that name and why my Facebook, email and MySpace accounts use that one. I was my online brand to be a positive one, so I took control over what came up in Google searches by totally owning my name. I LOVE it. I love having something unique.
As for the blog name, I have always written under the pseudonym Lily. My birthday is in May and it’s May’s flower. It’s also one of my favorite flowers – stargazer lilies are some of the most fragrant blooms I have ever inhaled!
So that was a long story, but names mean a lot to me.
What a cool post! I was named after the Bionic Woman… LOL
So nice to finally figure out this mystery!
My blog? Well…I’m known to be a tad dramatic/overdramatic on occasion. And melodramatic is another word for that…and my name is Melissa (Mel).
So it was only natural.
Nora is actually the last part of my first name… it keeps me slightly anonymous since my real name is super uncommon AND lets people relate to me at the same time
I suppose I should have gone for something more snazzy and exciting but I didn’t. Ah well.
And I LOVE your name.
I think your name is beautiful but I can see how when you were little you felt left out of the “loop”. I didn’t like my name when I was in grade school. I remember walking home and thinking, “I want to be KELLY” – I just wished my name was cute, like KELLY. Knowing full well that wouldn’t fly at home, I asked my mom if I could spell Anne without the “e” – and she nearly had a heart attack! “THE E HAS TO BE ON, IT MAKES IT MORE ELEGANT!!!” – - as for my blog name, Anne has nothing to do with it…. but I just thought I’d tell ya that I could relate to that feeling as a kid- wishing I had a cute name. Now, I love my name. Although, I scored a wicked nickname years ago- “Annebella” and I wish to have my name legally changed to that. All my friends call me Annebella. Or, Bella. Or some variation…
Okay, I ahve to mention that I LOVE the name Leilani… I also like Loralie and and things like that. My best friend was planning to name her child Laelene (based on the name Leilani) So I have to say that I am envious !
You see, my parents gave me a very “anglo” name because they knew they wanted to come to america and wanted us to be easily assimilated. I wish I had something more exotic.
As a fellow Michigan Maria, I hated my name growing up.
I didn’t find it to be as difficult to find the stickers and the like, but I hated that it wasn’t trendy- that I didn’t have a nickname. I always wanted to be an “allie” or a “Liz.” The worst part of our name, though, and tell me if you experience this- the songs.
I hate people constantly singing to me. I hate it. And I’m considering changing my name, to this day. Anyways… let me know if you have musical experiences with the name!
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