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Saturday, April 16, 2016

A to Z Challenge – N is for Names


There are lots of interesting things to ponder about names. Does the name our parents give us have any bearing on how we develop as we grow up?  Does our first name have an effect on the first impression we make when meeting someone? Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having an unusual first name – or unusual spelling of a common first name?

My maternal grandparents gave most of their children Polish names – that’s how they appear in church baptism records. Here they are in order of birth

Baptismal Name
Common Name

Alexandria
Alice
Did “Alex” as a nickname become Alice?
Bronislawa
Bernice

Pelagia
Pauline

Stanislawa
Stella

Joseph
Joseph

Stanislaus
Stanley

Martha
Martha

Julia
Julia

Czeslaw
Chester

Emilia
Emily

Frank
Frank
Not “Francis” but the English version of Franz.

My own parents gave their three children middle names after the saints on whose feast day we were born.  I was born on the feast of St. Catherine. My next brother was born on the feast of St. Raymond.  But my folks had their limits. The next brother was born on the feast of St. Jehosaphat. His middle name is Joseph.

In Roman Catholic grade school, I was one Mary among many including the teachers who were all Sister Mary ………  How I longed to have an unusual name.  I envied Rita Hayworth’s daughter Yasmin. 



7 comments:

  1. We had a Catholic family in the neighborhood whose daughters were all named Mary - Mary Catherine, Mary Theresa, Mary Patricia. We used to call the boys Mary John, Mary James, etc. etc. Yeah, we're hilarious.
    Visiting from AtoZ
    Wendy
    Jollett Etc.

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  2. I've always wanted to be other than a Mary as well. So I tried on Mary Lou and M'lou. They all sounded so strange that I always came back to Mary. I guess that's because that's who I am. A Mary who would still like another name. Haha.

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  3. I grew up in a Polish/Russian home too and recognize some of the manes. How they chose Donna eluded me until I got older. It was such a unique name that I didn't meet another Donna until I was in my twenties. I like that the name means 'Lady" and that it was chosen because my dad knew a young woman in High school who was sweet and got along with everyone so she stood out in his mind. I chose Marie as a confirmation name since everyone I know was Mary or Ann. Great post. Made me smile. Have a great day.

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  4. Great post! The Jehosaphat made me smile, as when my very loud grampa got excited about something (like seeing his first born granddaughter for the first time) he yelled out "Holy Jumping Jehosaphat!" I heard that often as a child, and had no idea what it meant hahaha.

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  5. Jehosaphat made me smile too. We decided that our children's middle name would be after their grandparents. I was very glad that my second child was a boy as it was easier to match a boys name to Wilhelm (grandfather) than match a girls name to Martha (grandmother)!

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  6. Names always fascinate me. Have you read Freakonomics? That book actually answers some of the questions you pose about names. Good post.
    @DoreeWeller from
    Doree Weller’s Blog

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