Day 3: What's In A Name?
Today's prompt explores the meaning of family names, both first and last.
My maiden name is Kowalski, which is pretty much the Polish equivalent of Smith. Kowalski is the second-most popular surname in Poland today.
My married name is Schroeder, which comes from a German word meaning 'to cut,' so it was often given to tailors. My husband's particular Schroeder ancestor came from Oldenburg, Germany.
My first name is Emily, which is the English form of the the Latin name Aemelia. It means 'industrious' or 'hard-working.' The meaning does suit my personality, because I get all nervous and twitchy if I am not planning something or working on a project. However, I never really liked the sound of the name. It sounds too feminine to me and I've always been a tomboy. I am not sure what my parents would have named me if I had been a boy.
My husband's first name is Anthony, but he goes by Tony. Anthony means 'priceless' or 'worthy of praise.' He was named after his great-grandfather, Anthony Schroeder, who also went by Tony.
My son is Benjamin Joseph. There was no particular reason why we chose Benjamin; we just really liked it and we liked its meaning, which comes from the Hebrew words meaning 'son of the right hand.' Joseph is a traditional name in my husband's family. His grandpa's middle name is Joseph, his dad's middle name is Joseph, and my husband and his two brothers all have the middle name Joseph. (And actually MY grandfather's middle name was Joseph, too.)
My daughter is Arwen Elizabeth. My husband and I had a much harder time deciding on a girl's name than we did when we had a boy. I did not want to give her a cutesy-type name and I did not to give her a name that was trendy and/or popular. (Don't know why I didn't care about the popular factor with the boy name; Ben is a pretty common name.) Arwen is a Welsh name meaning fair or fine - it can also be spelled Arwyn. In all honestly, we thought of it because it is the name of one of the main elf maiden characters in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which is one of our favorite fantasy epics. I feel like it is a strong-sounding name and that the name will grow well with her. If we had not chosen the name Arwen, we probably would have named her Esther, which was second on our list. If she had been a boy, she would have been Calvin ('Cal').
I love that Joseph as a middle name is on both sides of your family! Would you use it again if you had another son? Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYes, I think we would. My mother-in-law did it for all three of her sons, and I kind of like that she did. (But I can't have any more kids, so it's more of a theoretical question for me :-))
DeleteLove name stories!
ReplyDeleteIn my husbands family 'Charles' is the name that is passed down and was both his grandfather's first name ~ and is his and our son's middle name.
Only know the name Arwen from LOTR so fun to learn some of its history.
I love the reactions I get when I tell people her name. Some have never heard it before (so are obviously not fans of the book/movie). The Tolkien geeks (like me) get all excited. And then there are those people who, you can tell, know what its from, but kind of don't want to admit that they know, if that makes sense.
Delete