Names

Ever since I was a little boy, I always remembered wondering how and why things were named what they are; also why/ how the words were formed. On long road trips/ vacations I would look at street signs and store names in foreign places and wonder why things were named as they were. A group of people I thought who put a lot of meaning into what they named things were the Native American Indians. All of the places, people, even animals they named were very symbolic, and had an important meaning. I feel as if in today’s world we don’t put as much thought into the things we name. Even when parents name their kids, some just slap a name on their forehead (not literally.) They don’t think about how they want their child to be raised, or they want them to become as

an adult. My good friend was given a made up name when he was born because his father was drunk. To me that’s just cruel. For one thing, it would be rather hard for him to complete an essay like this, but also knowing your name which is a big part of you, has no real meaning. My name, Owen, was passed down 3 generations before me. I asked my father “why has our name been passed down this long? Why did you name me it?” he told me that his great grandfather was born into slavery and explained to me how he was not given a name until he was released and shipped to Jamaica. There, he was adopted at a young age into a family. The family said my great grandfather was a fighter; taking a lot of abuse and seeing a lot of negative things. Still at the end of the day, he was still smiling and loved to joke and laugh. “Owen” is a name that originated in the tribes of ancient North Wales. It is a patronymic of Owen, which is derived either from the ancient Celtic personal name Owain, adapted from the Latin "Eugenius,” meaning wellbeing. Owain or Owen has been the most popular of all Welsh personal names, and around thirty-nine Owains are featured in ancient Welsh legends. Hereditary surnames were a later adoption in Wales than almost any other European country, not becoming 'fixed' until the 17th century.
The name Owen later became popular in Ireland, where it was said to mean “a fighter.” I thought it was pretty cool that my name actually had some meaning behind it, and how it has stayed in the family for over 200 years. I think I think the Name Owen fits me well. Though life doesn’t always go as I planned, you can almost always catch me with a smile when the moment calls for one.
Having a name that has a lot of meaning is awesome. Figuring out your names meaning and trying to live up to its meaning is a great way to go about life. If somebody finds out about their name and follow its meaning, I think it would greatly affect their lives.
Id bet a large sum of money that most of the people that live in America don’t know the meaning of the town they live in, or even the street that they live on’s true meaning. I’ll admit I was one of those people untill recent times. In forign countries like Africa and Jamaica, even old Native American tribes all have important meanings to the things that they name. I have family in Jamaica, and my aunt was explaining a story to me on a long walk about her town and why it was named Oyster Bay. I was young so I don’t remember the story, but it had to do with a giant oyster fish. I actually found a lot of interesting facts about my hometown, Holtsville. I was not expecting at all. Holtsville started out as a local store called Waverly in the late 1840’s. Waverly is now a street named Waverly Avenue, which still exist, and is one of the main roads in my town. The surrounding area was named Holtsville in the 1860’s when the post office opened, which is still there and the one I use! Holtsville station was rebuild in the 1897, but burned down in May of 1912. I found out that part of that the

local store was located in between my block and the one over, and my backyard was used as a farm for some of the items sold. Me and my father always wondered why our yard was so big and why there were wells in parts of our yard. Holtsville was actually named in honor of U.S. Postmaster General Joseph Holt. General Holt was origionally a farmer, and before he became a general he was an excellent farmer. The land of Holtsville was known for farming, so the towns people decided to name it after him. My street was named after a rifle that was apparently General Holt’s favorite, the M107 50 caliber rifle. Barrett’s are a type of rifle, and through discvery a few other town roads were named after journal entries by General Holt, like Blue Point Road. Knowing my street name to me isn’t as important as knowing what your actual name means, but knowing some history where you spend a huge part of your life wouldn’t hurt. Also knowing how the history of places around you could make living there more interesting. The history of anything is a very important in my opinion. Knowing where you and things around you came from is how we as a society build off things and become better people. We as people have so many tools to find out about our past, like the internet and books, even old tales our elders sometimes tell. I have always been a big fan of history and always enjoy finding out about the past and how things were. A lot of people don’t look in depth of the things that affet them the mos. They just use/ do it if they like, not knowing where or why it is the way it is. In todays society, people know less about the meaning of things then the things that affect them the most.