The Meaning of My Name

What is in a name?  Does your name change who you are?  If you had a different name, would that fundamentally erase who you would have been and created someone new?  I think about these sorts of things once in awhile, usually when I am sitting in an excruciatingly boring staff meeting someplace. 

My mother named me Tina after the actress Tina King of the King family.   I was not named Christina or any other named to be shortened, just Tina.  If looking in a dictionary of baby names, Tina is from the Old English and means river, which I find curious.  My name is also associated with Christianity, and in that aspect is supposed to mean strength. 

So I am a strong river?  Not with my bladder.

The Urban Dictionary defines my name as meaning "little one".  Which is true--I'm only 5'3".  There's more: "Derived from Latin. Competitive - a leader, independent, strength, creative and original. A refined intellectual, a woman who's studious, analytical and very research oriented . . ."  While I am definitely independent, intellectual, and strong, I wouldn't say that that I am very original. I've met tons of strong and independent women.  I'm also not competitive about most things.  (My name also appears to be a reference to meth, oddly; unless they are referring to the drug's volatile and explosive tendencies. I do have a bit of a temper.)

I also looked up my name on a weird website called the Kabalarians.  I guess they are interested in the Kabala?  (Well, either that or it's some cult--if I disappear or start spouting weird stuff and asking for money, you'll know which one.) This site says that I am very strong willed, which is true. But it also says that I desire leadership.  Not so much.  I'd much rather be the second in command,

The consistent theme, across these websites is that I am a strong and independent person.  I think my name does suit me in that regard.  Following the crowd has never been easy for me.  I've always preferred to go my own way.  As for strong, I have always seen myself as a survivor.  I've survived many things that would have put others in therapy, and killed a few.  I'm still here, scars on display. 

I don't think I'd be as adaptable if my father had had his way and I'd been named Bernadette.



5.) The meaning of your name...does it suit you?

The Almost Name

Mamakat's Pretty Much World Famous Prompt:  2.) I almost named my child _______, but chose _______ instead because…
  

I like to sit in church before the Mass begins, because it is quiet and I can hear myself think.  Sometimes I'll pray, but other times I just sit and think about...stuff.  On this particular Saturday evening(many years before I met my husband), I was ruminating about what I might name my children, if I should have any, when a male voice in my head said, "Nathan."

If you are in church, and a voice that is not your own says something in your head, I find it is best to pay attention.

"Nathan?"  I thought.  "Really?"

"Nathan."

I thought about it.  I would never in a million years have thought of the name Nathan.   Nathan was a good, strong name for a boy, and it was a decent bet that there wouldn't be hundreds of Nathans running about in the kindergarten playground.  I couldn't think of a single family member, past or present, named Nathan.  I filed the name away, and there it sat for years and years.  Then I was pregnant with a boy, and had to find a boy name.  Nathan floated to the top of my brain, rattling around.

"What about the name Nathan?"  I said to my husband, who was very helpful. 

"No."

I kept thinking about it.  Naming should not be a hasty decision.  The first name has to go with a middle name and a last name.  There has to be symmetry, a rhythm, so that the name flows off the tongue, a song unto itself.   I kept picturing a stadium full of people, and the announcer saying the name of my son.  What name did I hear?  I did not hear the name Nathan.

My father had to put his two cents in during all this.  He had had a dream, he said.  In the dream, God told him that I should name my son Joseph Daniel.  I couldn't help it; I guffawed.  Not because Joseph Daniel is a bad name.  It's not.  I laughed because my dad had told my sister-in-law the exact same thing when she was pregnant with her last child.  My father had become a bit forgetful!  I cheered my dad up by telling him that his grandson's middle name would be Michael, after his father, Clarence Michael.  So we had the middle name, and now we just needed the first name.  I broke down and consulted some of the 40,000 books of baby names, and there it was.

I chose the name Zane instead of Nathan, not for any grand reason, because I liked the sound of the name. I read somewhere that Zane is derivative of John, and I was born on the feast day of John the Baptist, but that's not why I chose it.  I also know that there's an author named Zane Grey who has an entire town named after him.  That didn't really factor into it.  I actually like the sound of the name Zane.  I liked hearing the name not only in my head, but also I liked hearing other people say it.  Zane is a strong, happy name, I think.  The name Zane will never belong to a Goth-y or Emo teenager.  The name Zane will belong to someone confident and capable of forging their own destiny, whatever it may be. 

"What about the name Zane?" I asked my husband, who was very helpful.

"Okay."

What's in a Name?

"They" say that location is everything in business. 'Location, location, location' is the mantra. It is very true the the location of a business is vital to a business' success. It's not a good idea to place an ice cream parlor next door to a Weight Watchers, for instance. Or a lingerie store next to a store that sells bible.

There is more to a business' success than just the location. There is a lot of effort and hard work put into the success of every business. Owners put their hearts and souls into making lots of money by selling us cakes, books, coffee, cars, etc. But there is one more thing that needs to be considered with great care: The Name.

If the name of a business is conservative, like Walmart, then the owner may not need to advertise very much to bring in customers. However, there are a number of businesses who seem to feel that the name of their business should reflect the owner's philosophies. Sometimes this backfires.

There is a hair salon called 'Shear Faith'; apparently it is advised to pray before you get your hair 'fixed'. A barber shop with the name 'Chop it Up' brings to mind Sweeney Todd. I expect to see that particular shop on the news, but I'd be more concerned if this barber shop was located next to a restaurant. Rounding out our tour of hairy joints, we come to 'Hare We Are'. They spelled hair incorrectly, and they made a bad pun in the process.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is 'Health Camp'. That is the name of a burger joint in Waco, an establishment that has been serving burgers and fries since 1948. I would love to eat at Health Camp, just because of the name. I would actually overlook the location(Waco) to eat there. 'Holy Grounds' is a coffee shop that also sells Christian paraphernalia. Then, in Corpus Christi, there is 'Chubby's Mattress Store'. This name gives a bit of sexual innuendo AND provides a place to pursue that innuendo to a logical conclusion.

Finally, we have stores with just plain regular names, like Rudy's BBQ, The Wash Tub, etc. In an effort to boost sales, these places will often place pithy sayings on their marquee instead of the special. Rudy's certainly got my attention with it's "Beat the heat with a half pound of meat!" A meat market in town has the slogan "Nobody beats our meat!". The Wash Tub was advertising '10$ Handjobs' the other day. Those signs certainly got MY attention!

My very favorite sign of all time can be found on the I-37 road to Corpus Christi. It's a sign the government put up, and I imagine that they giggled while they worked. If brawny construction workers can legally giggle. Choke Canyon State Park is at exit 69. There's some sexual innuendo in there, easy to miss. It makes me wonder if the people laying out the road deliberately made it so that that particular exit would be 69.

What signs do you find in your area that are funny, odd, risque'? I wanna know!