...either, KIERSTYN!” Mr. Bailey persisted, and continued to tell me I was saying my own name wrong. “No, that is not right. You don’t say it Kierstyn, it’s Kirsten.” “I am eleven years old… He can’t tell me I am wrong for saying my name Kierstyn,” I said under my breath as I walked away. Over the 16 years that I have been alive, I have been called so many names that somewhat resemble my name, but aren’t my name. I have grown to hate the names Kirsten, and Kristen, and I have a strong disliking for my own name. From the day I was born, my own Grandpa could not remember my name. I think I was five when he finally was able to call me “Kierstyn” without his little trick. He would start to say my name, pause, and then say “Okay, it’s Pierston with a K.” Then he would finish saying my name, and whatever else he had to say. My grandma called me Kirsten for the longest time, and finally got it when my mom said “Mom, it’s K-ear-styn.” I was about 4 then. After that, none of my family had problems with pronouncing my name. If they...
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...given a name, a number, and a certificate of life. All of which helps to identify us, it gives us a unique combination of letters and symbols, as well as showing who’s who by stamping an image of our feet onto a piece of paper. As Alan W. Watts once said, “We seldom realize, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.” Of these ID’s, we only have the right to reside over one, one form of identification that we can personalize. One combination of letters that we have complete control over. We have power over what we are called, and, for most people, we change our name as we grow...
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...of your name and how you feel about it. My full name is Saidah Lauren Belo-Osagie. My name is definitely different from the average Joe’s, but it’s special because I know that even though it’s hard to pronounce, people will say, “Hey, you’re the girl with the hard to remember name.” And that’s okay. That’s because I know that my name means something special: Joy. My parents named me Saidah because they believed that I would bring joy and pleasure to the family, especially because right when I was born, a dove came to my window. That was definitely a good sign. The origin of my name comes from the Muslims. I’m not Muslim, and neither is my immediate family. But for some reason, my paternal grandpa was Muslim, for there were many Muslims in Nigeria. They insisted my name be Muslim even though that’s not what my mother had in mind. She wanted to name me Jasmine, a nice, pretty name. Even though I would like the name Jasmine, it was a common name. I need a somewhat peculiar name for a somewhat peculiar girl like me. People usually ask me what I feel about my name because it is so different, but I personally like it. At first I thought it was uncanny and bizarre, and I’d often ask my mom why it wasn’t something that everyone knew. But, of course, my name defines who I am, and I shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Several times, people would ask me what my name was, and when I said it was Saidah, they thought it was a pretty name. That made me feel much less insecure about my name. SAIDAH BELO-OSAGIE...
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...different names, two different stories. One story remains in the making, while the other remains as a piece of history, a souvenir from my past. My American name, Kaitlyn Rose Cooper, was given to me by my mother. Kaitlyn, a very common name here, means pure. However, that’s not the reason my mother named me that; instead, she named me after another child in my orphanage who was also being adopted. My middle name honors my grandmother, Rose Cooper. The name Rose reminds me of the sweet- smelling flower. It reminds me of beauty, gentleness, kindness, youth, and love, all of which are qualities I hope I exude towards others. Finally, my last name- Cooper. A Cooper is strong, intelligent, enduring, generous, humorous, and God-...
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...prove their ethnicity? My first name, Emily, sounds like a typical American name. Whereas my last name, Martinez, sounds Hispanic. I never thought much of my name, I just viewed it as a way for people to call me. When people told me their ethnicity, I accepted it and never analyzed if they actually portrayed that ethnicity. I identified as Hispanic because I was born in America to Mexican parents. A time in my life that caused me to develop a belief of my cultural identity was when I was accused of not being Mexican enough. This caused me to experience teasing about which ethnicity I am, doubting if I truly demonstrated my ethnicity, and realizing the ethnicity I am, but how that doesn’t define me. Both of my parents were...
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...The True Meanings “That’s a boy's name,” I heard a guy say when my friend called me over after fifth hour. It was always strange to me why my parents named me Addison. When I would look up my name, most of the time it would say it meant Adam’s son. Seeing my name being associated with “son” always confused me as to why my parents didn’t look up the name before hand. They chose Addison because all of my siblings names start with an A, but they considered naming me Abigail. It was soon out of the question. One of my parents friends named their child Abigail shortly before I was born, and my parents didn’t want us to have the same name. Addison does have other meanings, and I would say it both fits and doesn’t fit me. My name shows the fit to...
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...that these surveys are conducted face-to-face. (If you are away at school, please conduct over the phone or via Skype or webchat) * Before starting the surveys, please read over the questions to familiarize yourself with them. * Expectation: acquire at least 21 referrals (favorable introductions). Please be aware that any referrals that you get over 21 would be beneficial to you in this program. * After completing these surveys, we ask that you respond to the questions in the Summary/De-brief. We will discuss what you learned throughout this process in the 2nd interview. Please note, for privacy issues, these assignments are yours to keep. They will not be kept by us, nor will we use any sort of contact information or names that you receive during this process. The...
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...Have you ever wonder to yourself what does your name? Where did it came from? I did. I decided to do some research on what my name meant, and figure out if my name fit me. When I was born my parents decide to name me Celina, which in Latin means sky or heaven. They decided to name me Celina because my mom liked the singer Selena. On the other hand, my dad liked the name, but not the singer.They eventually both agree my name was going to be Celina, but have it spelled than the singer Selena. I recently asked my parents if they knew what my name meant. Their answer was no. Therefore, I started to google my name online because I wanted to know the meaning of my name; it meant sky or heaven. There are several reasons my name does not fit me....
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...chapter we had learned the narrator’s name, Esperanza, which means “hope” in English. “It was my great-grandmother’s name and now it is mine/ She was a horse woman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse_ which is supposed to be bad luck if you’re born female-but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don’t like their women strong.”(p110) this quote meaning that the narrator, Esperanza, explains that she was named after her grandmother and they share the Chinese birth year of the horse, so she expressed a requirement to have known her grandmother. She also expressed her belief to deflect her fate. So that they want to be strong. The quote “the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow." this also shows her grand mother who was physical and spiritual being was defeated by an unwanted marriage. She explained her grandmother is the one of the others who spend their lives looking out window and trying for escape in her hole life. Esperanza wonders if her grandmother made the best of her situation or she turned her anger at her husband; therefore, hurt herself more than her husband could have. Esperanza would like to change her name to one that expresses true for herself, but she does so in a random way that we are not meant to take seriously. “In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting.” (p109) This quote from the chapter “My Name,” which is a metaphor for hope and expectation...
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...deliberate strokes I signed my kindergarten masterpiece, M-A-R-K, narrowly missing the puddle of wet white glue above the floppy plastic eyeball. I paused with a familiar thought: it just didn’t fit. Mark was just too short and awkward sounding and such a great tissue paper turkey deserved a better signature. I couldn’t escape the disappointment because Mark followed me in bold letters everywhere. On my lunch box, the tag inside my coat, my baseball glove, etc. The name Mark was like the annoying neighborhood kid you get stuck with over summer vacation and just can’t get rid of. I had no idea that over time, this unwanted companion would become my respected friend. Why couldn’t I have names like my brothers? Richard was the oldest and his name was strong and confident. Best of all he could be Rich or Richard, a multifunctional name; Richard when he became president and Rich with his buddies on the playground. And then there was Russell who could always be Russ when the need arose. What were my parents thinking? Did they just run out of letters? It was obvious to me that my name should’ve been Robert. This theory was reinforced by my Sesame Street logic: Richard, Russell, Robert, Mark; which one of these just doesn’t belong? I wanted Robert… not Mark, and like that unwanted tag along there didn’t seem to be anything I could do to get rid of it. As years went by, various experiences made me more accepting of my name. One of the most memorable came...
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...Hairs My families hair is very diverse. Joe, my dad has very thick and curly hair..Nappy with the ability to be a afro. In the morning his hair will tell you which side of the bed he slept on. My sister sonya has blonde curly hair that resembles cavatappi noodles. She gets the curls from Joe. Bridgets hair is straight and brown. Pretty normal except the fact that she never needs to brush or straighten it, it makes her co-workers jealous. My hair is much different than everyone else's in my family. Mainly because I am not biologically related to anyone, but also that my hair was as red as a angry sunset. It flows like the high tide. Curly in some places like honey barbecue fritos. Papa Who Wakes Up Tired In The...
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...my school life. When I first came to SAS, the only English phrase that I can say was “I don’t know”. While it was my first day to school, it was the first day back to school from the winter break for everyone else. Everyone knew each other, knew their ways around the school and knew each other’s names very well. I felt like an absolute outcast, facing a high brick wall that separated myself from the rest of the class. Compared to other students, the wall was higher and seemed more impossible to overcome to me since I was unable to communicate. Unlike how I was back in Korea, I changed into a reserved child, unwilling to express my thoughts and opinions. To a 6 year old girl, this sudden change in environment was a bit too much to handle; however, even though I was young, I realized that my life would never go back to how it was in the past, and that I will have to find a way to conform to the norm of the situation I am set in. As time passed by, I got used to the SAS community and managed to adapt to the three cultural influences that I was receiving: American in school, Chinese out of school, Korean at home. Little by little, I opened myself to the people around me. Noticing the change in my attitude, my classmates approached me and asked for my name. Like a robot, I would reply, “My name is Jung Hyun Yoon.” No matter how many times I would say it, they asked again the very next day or say it with a weird pronunciation. I absolutely could not understand why in the world they...
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...What does my full name mean? This was the essay assigned to me by my outstanding English teacher Mrs. Beddingfield. When we were first assigned this topic, I was very excited and began my research immediately I knew insufficient facts about my name, however; I was not clueless. I have always known that my first name bailey is great for either a male or female. I also knew that my middle name Allen was a family name. My middle name Allen came from my father’s side of the family. My last name Doolittle is very rare. All I knew was that it is my father’s name, and it has Irish roots. It is also used as a very popular movie title Dr. Dolittle. Every name has a meaning to me. All names have a power to them and were given to that person for a specific reason. I have always wondered many things about my name. Where it was first originated from, what is its meaning,...
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...blessed with the middle name Ellen. Tracing back to my great great grandma the name Ellen made its debut into the family tree. There was a generation skipped where it wasn’t present but my grandma had brought it back in style. Although there may not be a true heart to heart meaning behind it, giving the girls in the family the middle name Ellen is a family tradition and carries on a legacy. I plan to carry on this tradition some day and give it that same love past generations have. It was December 9, 2000, and my mother had been laboring with me since the night before. Once I was born it was the time to tell the doctors what I would be called. From the beginning of the pregnancy, my mother knew she wanted to carry on the middle name Ellen. Ellen means “Light, Torch, Bright” and originates from the Greeks. Previous holders of this name were my great great grandma, Sarah Ellen, my grandmother, Mary Ellen, and my mom, Denise Ellen. Personally, I have never really thought much about my middle name but now, I see that it’s not just any ole name. It’s a name with great meaning and love behind it as...
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...Shortly after my birth, my parents, with the help of my grandmother, decided on naming me Vincent Lord. From what I have heard, there was a long argument over the order of the names, whether “Vincent” or “Lord” would come first. My father wanted “Lord” first so that I could be named after him and my mother wanted “Vincent”, after her father who had passed before I was born. My parents do not really know what my name would have been if I were a girl because they did not start coming up with name till after the ultrasound, when they found out they were having a boy. The name “Vincent” originates from the Roman name Vincentius, from the Latin word vincere which means “to conquer” and “Lord” comes from the man up above. For as long as I can remember, my parents have always called me by my nickname, “Bibo”. I do not remember exactly where that name came from. It’s just been something I have gone by through the years. I really like my name. It is really unique in my opinion, and I am often asked questions like, “Is Lord really your first name,” or, “Why...
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