BREANNA (BREE)

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Name: Breanna Gethsemany

What name you go by: I go by several: Bree, Bee, Breebee, Breezie. I prefer Bree for every day, Bee by my best friends, Breebee by my sister, and Breezie by my other friends.

Ethnic background: German, Dutch, English, Native, Norweigan

Place of birth: Salem, OR

Year of birth: 1993

Popularity of name that year: Ranked 83rd

Meaning/origins of name: Feminine form of Brian, which is believed to be of Celtic origin and of the meaning “strength.”

Why did your parents choose this name for you? I’m not sure, but the day I was born my mom just told the nurse without telling my father.

Does your family have any naming traditions? There are quite a few Catherines, Elizabeths, and on my paternal grandmother’s side all the men named James have a C middle name and go by the middle name.

What names have people called you based on your name? Banana, rhymes with Breanna. Nana, messing with the last part since I hate the ‘anna’. Breaunna, hate that name. People have mistakenly called me Reanna, with a hard a because they don’t hear the ‘b’. BB, for my double letters of my first and last names. Professor, it’s a childhood thing, short for Professor Lead-Bottom because I was a stalky child. Breezie/Breeze after the Cover Girl commercials when I was little.

Do you like your name? No, because I don’t identify with it. It’s not me. I’ve never liked it, I don’t even answer to it unless I hear the ‘Bree’ part first, otherwise I look around and ask who they’re talking to.

What is it like to go through life disliking your name? It’s irritating, I want to go by something different, but everyone around me thinks I go with my name, that I can’t be another name.

Did you have times in your life where you felt differently about your name? No.

Have you had difficulty with others understanding your name? Yeah. They pronounce it Reanna, Breaunna, etc. And spell it Brianna.

Any stories about your name? The first girl I met with my name was in Sunday School as a little kid, and because of our shared names, she decided to make my time there as horrible as possible because she was there first. Then in 9th grade I met a girl with an ‘i’ instead of the ‘e’, it happened that we both had the same nickname so whenever anyone said any of the nicknames, we both turned around.

SHAUNA

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Name: Shauna Lee

What name you go by: Shauna

Ethnic background: Irish and French Canadian

Place of birth: Connecticut, USA

Year of birth: 1985

Popularity of name that year: Ranked 294th

Meaning/origins of name: Feminine form of the Irish Shaun, a variant of Sean which is an Irish cognate of John (God is gracious).

Why did your parents choose this name for you? My mother was pregnant with me, her first child, while working at a bank. She hadn’t thought of any girls names yet that she liked, but one day a woman came in with a little girl named “Shauna” and she loved it. As far as Lee, she just liked the way it sounded.

Does your family have any naming traditions? No, but my dad likes to tell my uncle Shawn I was named after him. I do have quite a few aunts and uncles as well as cousins named for other people in the family. My sister Briana’s middle name is Cecile, after my great-grandmother.

What names have people called you based on your name? People call me Shannon a lot , and recently “Shandra”.

Nicknames: Sha-naynay- Sha-nah-nah-nah, Shaunacakes, Shaunhilda, Shauna Banauna, Shaunalini, and my baby sister calls me “Shaunie”, which I find terribly adorable.

Do you like your name? I really like my first name – The pronunciation is pretty obvious and it is common enough to be a familiar name, but uncommon enough that I haven’t met too many other people with the same name, and rarely with the same spelling. I like spelling, as well.. to me it has a more Irish look than Shawna

My middle name is okay – just boring.

Did you have times in your life where you felt differently about your name? I used to want a more exotic name when I was in elementary school.

What happened for you to have a change of opinion? Nothing , really. I guess I just grew up and realized that exotic names can be tough.

Have you had difficulty with others understanding your name? Many people want to spell my name wrong – popular misspellings include Shawna, Shana, and Shanna

If you could change your name to anything, what would it be? At this point, Shauna suits me, but when I was 9 I desperately wanted to be named “Amica”

Any stories about your name? Well, there is that one scene with Jennifer Grey in Ferris Bueller’s Day off where she says her name is Jean but most guys call her Shauna – and that little musical snippet plays… In High school this one guy always used to sing that to me, LOL.

Have you ever changed your name? Nope.

KATUSHA

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Name: Katusha Louise

What name you go by: Katusha

Ethnic background: White

Place of birth: Cape Town, South Africa

Year of birth: 1980

Why did your parents choose this name for you? I was named after my maternal grandmother. Family lore holds that my great-grandparents went to see a play in which a character was named Katusha, and they liked the name so much that they gave it to their first child and eldest daughter.

Does your family have any naming traditions? Yes; my siblings and I are all named after our grandparents.

What names have people called you based on your name? My family calls me either Katoosh, Katushie, or Tusha. I have been called Katrina, Patricia, Katushka, and Babushka.

Do you like your name? I love my name. It makes me feel connected to my grandmother, which is so special since we live continents apart. Also, apart from her, I’ve never met another Katusha.

Did you have times in your life where you felt differently about your name? When I was younger, I didn’t like having a name that was SO different but that passed quite quickly. I’ve never gone through a period where I fantasized about having a different name, although for a brief spell in college I tried to go by “Kat” but that never caught on – probably because I kept forgetting that I’d asked people to call me that.

Have you had difficulty with others understanding your name? YES. All the time. People constantly want to add in another letter or embellish it a little.

Any stories about your name? I share my name with a professional Russian cycling team as well as a Soviet missile launcher, so that’s pretty nifty.

MARALEE

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Name: Maralee

What name you go by: Maralee

Ethnic background: German, Welsh, Scottish

Place of birth: Michigan

Year of birth: 1967

Popularity of name that year: Maralee has never ranked in the top 1000.

Meaning/origins of name: The meaning for Mara is: Derived from the Hebrew marah (bitterness). The name is borne in the Bible by Naomi after the deaths of her husband and sons. And the meaning for Lee is: Transferred use of the surname derived from the Old English lēah (wood, clearing, meadow), lee has the meaning “dweller by the wood or clearing.” In Middle English, the spelling lēah evolved to leigh, legh.

Why did your parents choose this name for you? Both of my grandmothers first names were Mary and my paternal grandmothers maiden name was Lee. So they put the two together and made one name Maralee (I wasn’t given a middle name).

Does your family have any naming traditions? Not really. Three of the four children, including myself were named after family and friends and the 4th and last child (Scott), my mother just really liked the name.

What names have people called you based on your name? All kinds of mistaken names: Marilyn, Marianne, Marabel, MaryLee; common mispellings: Marilee, Merrilee, Merrily, Merry Leigh, etc… In college my nick name was Lee and Lee Merryweather- don’t ask! People often sing to me “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream”! and the theme song from Sara Lee Cakes, “no body does it like Maralee” (Sara Lee).

Do you like your name? Yes, I do. I’m proud to be named after my grandmothers!

Did you have times in your life where you felt differently about your name? When I was younger it was difficult to like it because of my last name. Teachers always butchered my first and last name and sometimes I wondered why my parents didn’t give me a name like Karen or Jennifer.

What happened for you to have a change of opinion? Matured! Liked to be different, realized my self worth!

Have you had difficulty with others understanding your name? Oh yes, most common mispronunciation is Maura Lee and Mary Lee. I pronounce it as Mare a lee. Spelling has always been an issue. After 45 years I’m used to it!

If you could change your name to anything, what would it be? I wouldn’t change it for anything.

Any stories about your name? I have met so many Maralees in my life time. I always thought it was such a unique name. In high school I had a friend that spelled it, Merilee (coincident that she also married a guy name Gregg, just like me). I have another friend I met as a teen at girls camp and she spells it Merrily. My brothers mother-in-law’s name is MaryLee and there is a woman at my church that spells it Merri Lea. I’ve never met anyone personally that spells it exactly the same way I do. So, I still feel unique!

Have you ever changed your name? No.

My 100th post!

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Caitlin was my 100th name story that I’ve posted! Thanks for being as interested in these stories as I am. I apologize for being very inconsistent in my posting. I have a lot more stories to come. Stay tuned…

CAITLIN

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Name: Caitlin Elizabeth

What name you go by: Caitlin, Cait, but mostly a nickname inspired by my last name (I prefer this last one)

Ethnic background: Caucasian

Place of birth: Baltimore, MD

Year of birth: 1988

Popularity of name that year: Ranked 44th

Meaning/origins of name: Borrowed from the Irish, Caitlin is a variant of CaitrÍona, the Gaelic form of Catherine (pure, unsullied).

Why did your parents choose this name for you? My Mom knew of one Caitlin in college and she thought it was unusual and pretty. She was shocked after I was born when a friend told her I was the “11th baby Caitlin and 3rd Caitlin Elizabeth” they had met that year! I think my Mom was disappointed but not as much as I’d have been. I cut her some slack because they didn’t have the internet back then!

Does your family have any naming traditions? Middle names are usually used to honor relatives. I do love my middle name partially for this reason. I think I’d like my first name more if it had more significance.

What names have people called you based on your name? Caitlin is pretty hard to make fun of, so I guess this is one good thing about the name!

Do you like your name? I like the way it looks when you write it out and I am very partial to the way it is spelled. My name spelled with a K or a Y has a totally different feeling, I think. I am a huge name nerd so the fact that my name was so trendy makes it hard for me to love.

What is it like to go through life disliking your name? I am grateful that my last name is so unique because no one else has my entire name. It also is a huge reason I’m determined to give my children lovable and unusual names.

Did you have times in your life where you felt differently about your name? I don’t remember disliking it as a very little child. I think around Middle School is when people start to wish their names were different.

What happened for you to have a change of opinion? I started meeting more Caitlins…. and Kaitlins and Katelyns and Caitlynnes…etc.

Have you had difficulty with others understanding your name? My biggest pet peeve about Caitlin is the spelling variations. In the last few years I’ve noticed a switch – now people assume my name starts with a K and I’ve had to start spelling my name out for people. I hate to admit it but I wish people knew that Caitlin was the original spelling… why I care so much about that I don’t know but I guess I would hate people to think that ‘Caitlin’ was a ‘yooneek’ way of spelling Kaitlin or Katelynn. As a name nerd, I have a strong feeling about ‘yooneek’ spellings of names. I know this might sound trivial or snobby to some people… maybe they are right.

If you could change your name to anything, what would it be? When I was little it would have been Lizzie or Lexie… now I like Campbell, Clementine, Millie, Felicity, April…. I could go on. I don’t think I’d actually change my name as an adult though, I think it’d hurt my mom’s feelings!

Any stories about your name? In high school, there were 5 Caitlins in my tiny class of 60 girls. Three of us were Caitlin H. and we were all in the same small group of friends! We went by our last names to avoid confusion.

Is there anything else you’d like to add? I’m wondering if I had a more unusual name, maybe I wouldn’t have become so interested in names. It’s one of my favorite hobbies/interests so maybe I owe Caitlin more credit for making me so curious about names. :)

JENALYN

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Name: jenalyn jane

What name you go by: jhen

Place of birth: philippines

Year of birth: 1993

Why did your parents choose this name for you? IT SOUNDS MORE FEMININE

Does your family have any naming traditions? YES, ALL THE GRANDCHILDREN OF OUR FAMILY STARTS THEIR NAME IN LETTER J

What names have people called you based on your name? JHEN IN MY FRIENDS WHEN I WAS YOUNG THEY CALLED ME ABO BECAUSE IM BALD AND ITS SOUND ALIKE WHEN YOU PRONOUNCED IT …KALBO(BALD)-ABO(MY CHILDHOOD NICKNAME)

Do you like your name? YES ,BECAUSE MY PARENTS GAVE IT TO ME

Did you have times in your life where you felt differently about your name? NO, HAVE NOT

Have you had difficulty with others understanding your name? YES BECAUSE THERE IS AN ARTIST NAMED JENNYLYN AND ITS SOUNDS LIKE MY NAME

If you could change your name to anything, what would it be? SOO RYUN,,,BECAUSE I LOVE KOREAN NAMES

KAROLINA (KARLEY)

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Name: Karolina Rae

What name you go by: I never use Karolina unless it’s on an official document. I always tend to go by Karley or Karley Rae.

Ethnic background: white

Place of birth: New York

Year of birth: 1994

Popularity of name that year: Karolina, with that spelling, has never ranked in the top 1000. Carolina was ranked 268th in 1994. Karley was ranked 703rd.

Meaning/origins of name: A feminine form of the Latin Carolus, which is a cognate of Charles (full-grown, a man, a freeman).

Why did your parents choose this name for you? My parents wanted a familiar name, but not a common name as they both have common names for their time period. My older brother and are Jaxon “Jax” (similar to Jackson/Jack), and Lilia (similar to Lily). Karolina offers the sound of Caroline, but has a different feeling to it.

Does your family have any naming traditions? Yes. It is kind of corny, but my mother and her sister’s middle names rhyme, so my parents proceded to do the same with my sister, my brother and I. My name is Karolina Rae, my brother is Jaxon Shay and my sister is Lilia Mae.

What names have people called you based on your name? I’ve always introduced myself as Karley, and when teachers call my name on the first day, I immediately tell them that I would liked to be called “Karley”. My parents sometime call me “Lina” and my closest friends will sometimes use “Karls”. People have always been known to use “Kara”, “Kar”, “Lee”, and “Rae-Rae”

Do you like your name? I absolutely hate my name, but I hate the confusion that it applies to people. Nobody can seem to spell Karolina right, instead offering to spell it with a -c. After we get over that obstacle, my nickname is another problem. Many will tend to spell it Carly or Karly, or even Karlee.

Have you had difficulty with others understanding your name? Very much. Spelling has always been a main issue for me all throughout school, jobs, birthday invitations and even with my own grandmother. She always tends to spell it with a -c!

KATHERINE

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Name: Katherine Alexandria

What name you go by: Katherine

Ethnic background: Scottish and German

Place of birth: Toronto, Ontario

Year of birth: 1985

Popularity of name that year: Ranked 32nd in the US, not sure in Canada

Meaning/origins of name: Cognate of the Greek Aikaterinē, the root of which is katharos (pure, unsullied).

Why did your parents choose this name for you? My parents wanted to call me Katie. However, they thought that Katie was cute for a little girl, but not appropriate for an adult, and decided on Katherine specifically so that they could call me Katie for short. I am so glad they did, because I loathe the name Katie.

Does your family have any naming traditions? Yes, although somehow they skipped me. In my family, people are called exclusively by their middle names. All of my ancestors go by their middle names, and even my brother does. I love my middle name, and would be happy to go by Alexandria or Alex, but I’ve always been called by my first name.

What names have people called you based on your name? Katherine, Katie, Kaitlin, Kate

Do you like your name? I love the name Katherine, but hate the name Katie. I go by Katherine. I love the name Kate, but my last name ends with -at, so the t sounds are too repetitive. If I ever don’t go by Katherine then I go by Kaitlin, which is the other thing my parents called me. They didn’t think Kate suited my last name either, so when they stopped calling me Katie they transitioned to Kaitlin (when I was just a kid, after I had a temper tantrum about how much I hated Katie). I’ve switched to Katherine as an adult.

Did you have times in your life where you felt differently about your name? I love my name, but when I was a kid I hated it.

What happened for you to have a change of opinion? I was happy when I started going by Katherine, rather than by any of my nicknames.

Have you had difficulty with others understanding your name? My name is Katherine, not Kathryn. That’s 3 syllables, not 2. I hate it when people pronounce my name Kath-rin, rather than Kath-er-in.

If you could change your name to anything, what would it be? I like my middle name. I wouldn’t change my name, but I might start using Alexandria or Alex.

Have you ever changed your name? No, but if I ever got married and decided to change my last name, I might consider going by Kate. Only if I liked my fiancé’s last name better than mine, and it didn’t end in a t sound. Otherwise, I would stick with Katherine.

Is there anything else you’d like to add? No, not really. Well, perhaps that Katherine is pronounced with 3 syllables.

RACHEL

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Name: Rachel Marie

What name you go by: Most people just call me Rachel.

Ethnic background: Filipino and Swiss

Place of birth: Spokane, WA

Year of birth: 1996

Popularity of name that year: Ranked 9th, the highest ranking Rachel has ever reached

Meaning/origins of name: From the Ecclesiastic Late Latin and the Ecclesiastic Greek Rhachēl, which is derived from the Hebrew rāchēl (ewe).

Why did your parents choose this name for you? I think its just a name they liked.

Does your family have any naming traditions? We are named after a family member for a middle name. I was named after my great-grandma Maria.

What names have people called you based on your name? Ray Ray, Rachie, Rach, Rachellie, Rachella, Rachelle, Raquel, Rach Rach Rachel Maria. My friends find it hilarious to call me Raquel or Rachelle(ruh-shell)

Do you like your name? Yes, it is Hebrew and means ‘ewe’ or ‘lamb’ which fits me because I am very quiet and more reserved.

Did you have times in your life where you felt differently about your name? When I was about seven I was obsessed with the name Ruby. I thought I should have been named Ruby not Rachel.

What happened for you to have a change of opinion? I think it had to do with my favorite bunnies being Max and Ruby :)

Have you had difficulty with others understanding your name? When I was younger, kids always spelled my name Rachle. It was really annoying. Other people thought it was Rachael.

If you could change your name to anything, what would it be? I wouldn’t change my name.

Any stories about your name? In middle school, my friends told one of my teachers my name was Rachelle and a whole three weeks went by before she realized it was actually Rachel.

Is there anything else you’d like to add? When I was two I thought my name was Rachel Maria. Went around saying, “My name is ray-chul muh-ree-uh!” It took awhile until I realized it was Rachel Marie.