Say my name, say my name

My Life Monday: Week 3 -- My parents named me Jessica Lynn because...

Ahhh. This could be opening up a can of worms. You see, I'm very particular about names (just ask my husband). I have not one, not two, but THREE different baby name books in my possession. Perhaps its because I love words and their meanings so much, but I really love learning what names mean and for my own children -- Ethan and Grace -- I (although I should say we, because Scott does have SOME say in naming the kids. hahaha) have chosen names based on their meanings and what I want them to live up to or embody. I want their names to MEAN something.

However, we're not talking about my kids names -- we're talking about my name. According to my baby book, my mom says that they picked my name (Jessica Lynn _____) because they thought it was pretty. Growing up I liked my name fine. I guess when you're used to your name you don't know what its like not having that particular name so you can't really compare whether you'd like another one better. As I grew older, I got to the point where I didn't DISLIKE my name, it just bothered me that it pegged me as such a child born in the eighties. In fact, according to ssa.gov, the name Jessica was the third most popular name in the country the year I was born (1980). So, as I said before, I didn't DISLIKE my name, I just wished that there weren't so many other Jessicas around me.

The name that bothered me more was my middle name -- Lynn (sorry mom). It just bothered me that it didn't MEAN anything special or meaningful, and even more importantly, it seemed like such a filler middle name. I mean come on. Its like Lynn is the go-to middle name that will flow well with almost any first name. (Go on, try it out with yours). When I got married, I was happy to get rid of the middle name and adopt my maiden name as the middle instead.

As I've gotten older (and so much wiser -- haha), I've come to appreciate a certain irony. First of all, my mom has never been crazy about her name (Nancy) and it turns out that HER mom always hated HER name (Rita). But the thing I like about all of our names, is that we represent a little bit of history. My name IS an " '80's " name and Nancy totally conjures the " '50's " and Rita is definitely a name that fits in with the " '20's " and " '30's." Of course, the biggest irony of all is that the names I've chosen for my kids will also date them to the time they were born even though I picked them for their meaning and not because they were popular names at the time. Oh well! Hopefully they won't hate their names because of that, and even if they do, perhaps one day they'll realize how much thought went into picking their names and at least appreciate the effort.

I know that as I've become a mom, I've come to appreciate my own mother so much more. And I've also come around to the idea that a mom picking a name simply because she thinks it is "pretty" gives it meaning in and of itself. So for my next little girl -- I'm already planning on naming her Sophie Lynn.

And that is all folks.