CNF Online Journal 1: “My Name.”

My name, it expresses significant meaning to myself. As a person with a lot of names and nicknames, it feels like I portray different characters in my own story.

Dang

This nickname of mine is the one I grew up with. My family, relatives, and church friends call me by this name. Originally, they got this nickname from my father’s favorite actress and beauty queen, Dang Cecilio. My father hoped that I would have the “beauty and brains” that the woman had. But when I searched the meaning of it, I found out that Dang means valuable in Vietnam. I would say that it is accurate because I know that my family values me and I also appreciate them.

MM

It is my initials but I also used this as a name when I was a preschool student. As far as I remember, this name was actually given to me by my nursery teacher because they said it was easier to say and remember by kids. As we grew up, this name started to fade away just like how time passed by.

Marianne

This name’s meaning is star of the sea and grace. It is of French origin with a Latin touch. It symbolizes their spirit for “liberty, equality and fraternity”. I think that the meaning of my name is veracious for my parents because they were really praying for a daughter and it was given to them by grace. It says that “wished for child” (from Maria) and “grace”, “favor” (from Anne). It’s kind of unique because of its spelling and I have never met someone with the same name as mine.

Melinda

I would say that this name is very special to me because it came from my own parents’ name. My Mel came from Melencio (my father) and Linda came from Belinda (my mother). It seems like they waited for ages to name their child where both of their names are combined. After four sons, a daughter was born which is me. It is also funny because when people hear the meaning behind my name, they say that if my parents would be a love team, my second name would be their ‘ship’ name.

I’m also curious about the real meaning of it and I discovered it says that Melinda has a Latin meaning of sweet from the word “melitus”. But some say it’s “beautiful honey”. I would be glad to b

August

My “not really name” name. It was supposed to be my first name and not Marianne if ever I waited for six more days inside my mother’s womb and became an August baby. But I would have loved to be named August too because it means “great, magnificent”, and “esteemed”.

From what I have observed, the meaning behind my names and nicknames was very personal from my parents and friends. I am Dang to my family and close friends, Marianne to my schoolmates, Yanyan to my friends. Sometimes, I don’t even know what to use when I meet new people. It is not like I have different personalities, but in a certain name, I feel like I have different identities and duties with them. Now, I am still in the process of finding myself behind those names.