Monday, November 14, 2016

How did your parents decide on your name?

If my dad had his druthers, I would have been named something Russian. Nadya and Ludmilla were top contenders. While I may not mind those names now, it's certain that I would have resented my parents for naming me something so ethnic. Especially growing up in the 70s, when the Cold War was in full swing, and Russian women were wrongly perceived as being ugly, unfeminine, combat-boot-wearing creatures.

My mom's top pick for my name was something equally heinous: Myra. As it is with many names, my mom knew and admired someone named Myra back in the day. Of course, it would have sounded better with the name Zelonka, and as an adult I definitely could have rocked it. But as an insecure kid, ugh, Myra would have been a burden.

I once found a little index card where my parents had written their name choices: boy and girl. (In the 60s, parents didn't know the gender of the baby before it was born.) Caroline was a name they both liked. I suspect that Caroline Kennedy had something to do with it. I also suspect that they considered it a "classy" name.

I actually really like my name, and my parents only minimally screwed it up. My mom preferred the name "Carolyn" and my dad liked "Caroline" (which, in common American pronunciation, rhymes with "wine"). So they compromised. Spelled it my dad's way and pronounced my mom's (rhyming with "gin.")

So, every single freaking time I meet someone whose only seen my name in print, I have to correct them. Sometimes, I don't bother, but then it tends to get confusing.

My middle name is my mom's name, Lavina, which means "avalanche" in German. I understand this was the name of one of her father's favorite horses. I don't particularly like that name, either, but it's a middle name that doesn't get used much, so I live with it. Besides, the combination of my two names is unusual enough that I really have no need to incorporate a third anyway.


Read other answers by Caroline Zelonka on Quora: Read more answers on Quora.

from Quora http://ift.tt/2fPbjqY

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