Everyone has their own unique story behind their name and everyone's story is different and can be really funny. Some people might get their names by having a name get passed down through a family member, while others might get their name because their parents just happened to like it. Some people also might not like their name and might think that it’s either too long or not long enough. 

If you really think about it, names are weird in general because you could have been named something completely different based on what your parents thought about a name or what your gender was. Jessica said, “I could’ve been named Jolene instead of Jessica, but my mom didn’t like Jolene. If I was a boy, I would’ve been named Jackson or Jake.” My mom told me that if I were a boy, my name would’ve been Beau because she thought it was a cool name for a boy and worked really well with my last name. 

How parents find your name in the first place or figure out what they want to name you can have a funny story behind it and show a lot about them. My parents chose my name based on who my mom used to babysit, and she ended up really liking it and thought that it fit really well with our family and our family’s last name. Jessica said, “My mom chose my name because she liked it and my name had a J in it and she wanted all of her kids' names to start with J.” 

Your middle name is also part of your story of how you got your name and it is also just like trying to come up with your first name all other again. For my middle name, my mom passed her middle name down to me. Jessica said, “My middle name came from my grandma's middle name.” It’s more common to have a middle name to get passed down, than having your first name get passed down. 

Just to think about how anyone could have been called a different name and how we could have not been called our name just seems weird. I couldn’t see myself getting called anything else besides my name because it has been my name since I was born. Other people could see themselves being called another name, or they might wish to have a shorter name. Jessica said, “I could see myself getting called another name because my name just seems like it’s too long.” 

Parents decide a lot of things for us, but one of the most important is our name, because that helps to determine part of who we are. We should thank them for many reasons, including naming us, even if you don’t like your name, because it seems like a hard and scary job to do. I am not looking forward to figuring out a name for a child, because they will be named that for the rest of their life.