I wrote this on lunchbreak and forgot to publish it. Wow, I am bad at remembering to click the Publish button. I will never work for Penguin Books.
In another “filler” to pass the time until my next batch of Brooklyn Essays (which seems to be taking FOREVER to write), I’ve decided to talk about something that I’ve found affects how I think about myself and act around other people: nomenclature.
And come to think it, a given name lends a lot more insight into how somebody interacts with the world than usually it’s given credit.
Okay, let’s start with my name.
I’m Nico.
Other people named Nico in history:
- Nico, Warhol superstar.
- Dr. Nico
- Nico Toscani, as played by Steven Seagal
My “Nico” is short for “Nicolo”, which is a re-spelling of “Niccolò”. That is an Italian, and specifically Florentine, name.
Other people named Nicolo / Niccolò in history:
But Nico(lo) isn’t even my first name. It’s my middle name. I’m called by my middle name because somewhere along our family line, one of my grandfathers was prudent enough to see nomenclature as an influence on someone’s life that would shape the outcome of their respective personalities – as such, when someone was named after a parent, they were no longer called by that name. My first name, Ramon, is the same as that of my father’s. But I am not my father. Therefore, In accordance to my grandfather’s rule I am rarely Ramon. That personality is reserved for my Dad. I’m someone else entirely with a trace of my Dad.
I’m Ramon to governments and institutions.
I’m Nicolo in civilian life.
I’m Nico to friends, acquaintances, and colleagues.
I’m Nic to my family.
And I’m nicopolitan when I sign on, so that I remember I’m a citizen in this society made up of four different people that populate the community known as my identity.
Now, let’s move on outwards.
Where did your name come from? Do you think it helped to determine who you would become?
My name is Courtney.
(shocking, no?)
My mother wanted to name me Megan, but my dad was a cop, and the last canine they had was a girl named Megan, so he put the kaboosh on that one quick.
There’s not any real significance to my name, other than the fact that my dad’s name is Andrew James IV. Yes. The fourth. His great grandfather went by AJ, his grandfather by Jim, his dad by Andy, and he was in actuality named for his great grandfather, so he also goes by AJ. While he respects the tradition of his name and is especially proud of the fact that he was named after his great grandfather, he had a lot of issues with it– teachers refusing to call him AJ and insisting on calling him Andrew for whatever crazy reasons they had, even though both he and his mother requested he be called AJ, people shortening his name to OTHER versions of Andrew or James that were not really his name… and so when my parents named my brother and I, they tried to give us names that would be our names. Not short versions, or long ones. Nothing that could turn into anything else. Just names.
That bugged me when I was a kid because many of my classmates had nicknames, but as I’ve grown up I’ve come to appreciate my name. People offhandedly shorten it to “Court” now and then in quick conversation, and I don’t hesitate to answer to that, but I don’t really claim it as a nickname. I don’t sign my letters “Court” or call and say, “Hey, this is Court.” I can hardly type just “Court.” I always get to the N before I stop myself, and have to hit the backspace button.
So, that’s why I don’t even have a really creative screen name or anything like that. My name is Courtney. My parents named me Courtney because I was supposed to be Courtney. I’ll AM Courtney. I’ll keep it that way.
My given name is Catherine Eileen.
Catherine was my paternal grandmother’s christening name, or some Catholic deal like that. I don’t know that I’m much like her at all.
Eileen is my maternal grandmother’s middle name. An Irish variation of Helen. I do act like my maternal grandmother, who passed away when I was little. She is described as “a force of nature”.
More interesting to me is the meanings of these names. Catherine means pure in Greek, and Eileen, as a variation of Helen, means light. Therefore, I am pure light. ;)
(perhaps not the most apt description, but flattering nonetheless.)
I prefer Catherine, particularly at work. People try to shorten it, and I correct them.
To my friends, I am sometimes Cat. I used to go by Cat in high school, and to be fair, my personality is quite cat-like.
To my father, and really only my father, I am Cathy. To anyone else, Cathy is the fat chick in the comics.
To the rest of my family, I am Cath. I love that, but partially because it’s a very exclusive term of endearment.
I’m verybadcat on the interwebz, which is the most apt description by far.
There’s Catherine the Great, Katherine Hepburn, Catherine of Aragon, a couple of St. Catherines, etc.
A member of senior management called for me at the office one day and when I took the call, he asked me if I had a nickname. “None I care to repeat…” He said that when he asks for Catherine, he feels like he’s calling on a empress, it was all he could do to not to ask for Catherine the Great. I deadpanned: “So what’s the problem?”
And that’s pretty indicative of how the name makes me who I am, I think. ;)
Well, as of right now, my name is Tough Girl – you can imagine how that makes me act. I like guns, I like working out, I like the outdoors. My nickname with my Filipino Family is Kit-Kat, among friends, I’m Kat, on my blog, I’m Elaine. And in each place, I do act a little differently, but I think the name is purely coincidental.
My name is Maxie. Most people assume it’s a nickname, but it’s actually my legal name.
I’m not sure that it’s shaped how I am or how I act, but I like to think it’s made me stand out and be more original? more outgoing… who knows
My parents named me Katarina Cecilia. Think it’s because they “both work internationally”, as mom once put it, although that spelling of Katarina is distinctly swedish/russian…
Not sure if I’m named after anyone, though I know that mom grew up with an Irish school nun called Sister Cecilia. So maybe I’m named after a nun with a cool accent. One can only hope. :)
However, I’m known by Cecilia because, as my mom said, if a filipino kid becomes sick during early childhood and recovers, you need to change the name because the old name has ‘gone bad’.
So apparently, were it not for my preliminary immune system deficiency, I couldv’e been a Katie.
At work it’s Cecilia (to avoid spelling time). Family and friends call me ‘Cessie’, which is very fortunate, since most Cecilias here end up being called ‘Cissi’. Thus, I can always tell when they mean me.
So there you have it, personalitywise I’m not a [cissi] ;)
Oh forgot…
due to my recent befriending of a ton of jazz-savvy musicians, the moniker Cess (as in B-sharp) has begun to stick… I even sign stuff with it, apparently.
Hence the name of my blog.
Apparently I was named (Nicole) after an actress – only not the one that’s famous. Some lesser known wannabe apparently. *sigh* I like my name though, it’s not too frequently used here in South Africa. Nico is actually well known here. I know at least three men named Nico.
I googled my name and this is what I came up with:
Nicole pronounced Ni-kohl is a popular name of Greek origin. It is the feminine version of Nicholas in French and means victory or victorious people. It is believed to be derived from Nike the Greek Goddess of victory and its original Greek form was Nicola. The name has a number of country-specific variants like Nicole or Nicolette in France, Nicola in Greece and Italy and Nikita in Russia. Some other forms are Collette, Nicol, Nicosia and Nikki. Actress Nicole Kidman and singer Nicolette Larson have popularized the name in recent times.
No offense to Courtney and the four Andrews, but I narrowly avoided being a deuche on the day of my birth thanks to my father interceding on my behalf, insisting that I be called Eric. I’m thankful.
Ah, thank you for this. I do love names.
My name is Angela, as you know. I was named after two people.
One was my father’s mother’s best friend’s mother, Angelika. She allowed my grandmother to stay with her in Vienna during World War 2, after she had escaped from her home town.
The other was my mother’s mother’s mother. I grew up thinking her name was Angelina. She was named after her mother’s mother, Evangelina. But I obtained a copy of her Italian birth certificate a few years ago and discovered that her name was Angela. Angelina must’ve been an Ellis Island change. And when she bought a house in the USA, she signed a document as Lena (short for Angelina, I assume).
My mother considered naming me Tatiana or Liesl. My father can’t remember any other name that was considered; in his mind, I was always destined to be Angela.
I occasionally go by the nickname Aiea (pronounced like EYE-yuh). It formed out of my inability to pronounce my own name as a child.
Steven Seagal.