Names
 

There's a thread like this I saw and replied to on KofK, and I thought it interesting enough to discuss with fellow Menewshans.
How was your name picked? Are you happy with your name and would you ever change it, if so to what? Have your friends had other nicknames for you?

My name is Uma. It's the name of the Goddess of Spirituality. (She keeps getting born on earth and is Shiva's wife in her multiple lives, so most people think Uma's another name for Parvati but not really.)
My mom's name was Rajeshwari and she struggled to learn to write it when she was small. So she wanted to name me something I'd be able to learn to write in a jiffy, and Uma's just 3 letters, 2 syllables. In my family most girls born are named after The Goddess (embodiment of like all the goddesses) and my grandmother made a list of The Goddess's names. My mom says the list included funny names like Brahmara. Uma was at the top of the list and that's what my mom chose.
I like my name. I won't change my name after marriage because it'll be like shedding my identity and I'll feel like I'm becoming my partner's, um, belonging. Like my partner is labeling me as his/hers. My friends call me Uma because though they'd like to give me a nickname, it's impossible to shorten my name LOL. CycloneKira: called me U-chan for some time.

Uma is a beautiful name. I love how you and your relatives were named after goddesses. That is really interesting!

My name is Jack. I chose it myself, taken from my middle name to replace my first name. [:)]

My name is Kristy. Apparently it wasn't the original name for me. My mom wanted I guess Christina or something like that but my dad was rushing her so I got half a name lol. I like it now, I didn't used to at first. It's way to close to Krispy and Krusty and Misty. And I got made fun of a lot for it. But I'm over all that now. I like it.

My name is Tamara. Apparently I was named after a woman my mother worked with and my mother recalled the name when they were on the way to the doctor for a check up and they saw a sign that had the word Tamarack (a type of tree) on it. Originally they thought I was going to be a boy so my name was going to be David. I don't know the reasoning behind the choice for that one. I personally like my name. Sure, most people say and spell it wrong--there are seriously a surprising amount of variations-- but I still love it.

Tamara is the Russian variation of the Hebrew name Tamar and I've heard it means palm tree or spice (in sanskrit). I remember picking up a bible and finding Tamar. At first I was like, "Sweet! That's basically my name!" then read the story. She was one of David's daughters... who gets raped. Awesome. Wonderful. Just the associations I want to have with my name. Also it's funny that my "boy name" is in a way connected to my actual name. I literally just realized that.

Let's not get started on nicknames. I have way too many.

I always thought Tamara was an Indian name meaning lotus. A name can mean many things if applied to other languages though [yes]
The number of people who think I was named after Uma Thurman :/

My name is Katherine and since the day I was born, my parents called me Kate. It means pure and I'm named after some distant unknown relative or something. I call myself Kat because everyone I know agrees it fits me more.

oHsoDemandinG: I don't think of any of that stuff when I think of Kristy, only Agatha Christie. It's a cute name :)
Kat Dakuu: Kat is so spunk! *high fives you*
Bearzy: Jack is spunk too. And it's two syllables like my name! *double high fives you*

Spunk huh? I think it's cute and the sort of name for creative folk.

Isn't jack one syllable?

My name is Sarah, I'm named after my great-grandmother, and various cousins who all died, sadly. I used to find that part creepy, but there you go. I don't think I'd change my first name but if I got married, I'd change my last name. My mum called me Sparrow when I was younger, if I got married, I'd literally be Sparrow Crane. :D

Haha. That's kinda entertaining though, Spooky. I like Sparrow Crane. It sounds like a character name in some video game.

A spelling variation of a cousin's name. Hebrew, derivative of Mary, meaning of the water.

I love hearing everyone's stories! :)
Hmm my name is Angelina. My older sisters name is Angela...I don't know why mom named us so haha.
I am often called Lina by my siblings. Used to be called Lina by my mom too but eh she stopped a few years ago.

linapoo: I've a friend called Mounica and her daughter's name is Noumica. (Interestingly Mounica is both an Indian and western name with different meanings in each context.)
The prettiest teacher at my school has her first name as Lina :)
Kat Dakuu: I googled 'spunk' and now I'm seeing just what a variant slang it is O_o
In Brit slang it means semen and in Australian it means someone sexy AND it means brave...
By 'spunk' I meant cool. Except I didn't want to use 'cool' because it's so overused [sweat]
And yeah 'Ja' and 'ck'. The number of times you bring your mouth together is the number of syllables, and both the 'j' and 'k' sounds require you to do so.
Spooky Pookie: That's spooky but more cool than spooky. 'Sparrow Crane' OMG that's cool LOL

That's what spunky means to me too--cool and brave. That's just not the word that comes to mind with my name.

I've taken enough grammar and poetry classes to know syllables. Jack may seem that way, but each syllable needs a vowel.

I guess half the time what I feel about people's names is due to my relating it with someone else- with the same or similar name, sometimes a fictional character. *tries to think up all the books she's read with someone called Kat, Kate, Kathy, Catherine, Caitlin...*
I don't know anyone with a similar name IRL.
*tries to think up all the books she's read with characters with loadsa spunk*
Oh I just don't know.

Same here actually! I write stories and put them online, but I don't want to put my real name on them and neither do I want to put something like a username. So I try coming up with psuedonyms. I also blog under a psuedonym. I came up with the name 'Nokomi' and the cool thing about it is, it's made up. I made it up so nobody's ever been named that before me. The name is truly mine. And it hasn't got a meaning, which somehow makes it very fitting (because how can a name be invented that sums up everything about a person? A name usually has one aspect as its meaning, like 'lucky' or 'gracious' which may not really apply to the person.)

Vera is short for Veronica, which is my middle name, and Dark... well, let's just say I'm not all sunshine and rainbows all the time. XD

Mom loved moon related names - my name is Luna. As for if I'm happy with it, I didn't enjoy being called names like Loony growing up - thank you to my older brother, who I didn't get along with till we were older (he's quite a bit older than I am). But now, I don't mind it as much, so I wouldn't change it. If someone asked me when I was in my early childhood days and my teens, I probably would have said yes. As for what I Would have changed it to - Norah was one of those names that I loved - I did name my daughter Norah. :]

Nicknames, some close friends took to calling me Moon, or Moonlight - which is why I went with the Moonlit part of my username. Just a play on my name. But I had my fair share of unsavory nicknames growing up that's for sure, which I won't mention. [yes] I have a few friends on here who call me Moon, and my daughter is Moon Baby. :] Despite the fact that she's no longer a baby. [lol]

I have never shared my real name on an avatar site before, but I am happy to tell you all the origin of my username :)

My username, salvete, is the Latin word for "hello" when addressing more than one person. I love that I get to essentially greet everyone just with my username :)

salvete: That's pretty wonderful! :) Learning something new ever day! :]

My name is Stacey,to be honest I don't know why. my parents pick this name out for me but I like it a lot. my name meaning is resurrection,origin of my name is Greek. fun fact my name is originally a short form of the name Anastasia.

But I can't stand my middle name at all to no end. it's Theresa if I ever get married I'm dropping it. maybe change my middle name to one I like. to be fair it was my mom's idea give me this middle name. [headdesk]

salvete: That is. So. COOL [squee]
Moonlit: I think Luna's a wonderful name, and not only because I'm a HP fan.
sailor: My dad had a classmate in uni called Anastasia, but somehow her nickname was Natasha.
I narrowly escaped getting 'Maheshwari' as a middle name, so I can kind of relate LOL.

Dandelioness: I'm somewhat of a Harry Potter fan, not as big as most though. I think for me I'm not a huge fan of the name (not enough dislike to want to change it, but not a fan of it), just because of how many horrible nicknames my brother came up with growing up based off of my name. (We weren't the best of friends - we still aren't but we're definitely closer now than we were when we were younger. That's for sure.)