What does your name say about you — and your parents?

Have you ever wondered why you were named your name? 

Perhaps there is a fun story behind it and you know all of it. 

Thinking about it, there’s probably always a full story behind choosing a name for a child. 

It could be the family tradition of passing down the name Georg to every male descendant as a second name. Or the creation of a completely new name that the parents come up with. 

In the case of my daughter’s name, the reason why she was named her name is pretty short: 

I had read a book with a very inspiring main character as a kid. That’s how I knew the name. The wasn’t even a die hard fan of the book. I just really liked it. 

Fast forward 20 years, on the day we first suspected I was pregnant, that name popped up in my mind and for some reason it was clear to both of us that that would be her name. We didn’t even bother thinking about boys’ names. 

And all of that es before we even knew for sure whether I was pregnant or not! 

From what I understand, my parents gave me my name for similarly intuitive reasons. My mum ‘always knew’: should she ever have a daughter, she’d call her Ellen. 

A few years ago I found out that one of my mum’s aunts was also called Ellen. 

She was elegant and very polite and always fashionably dressed. All qualities my mum adores. I wonder if subconsciously this aunt is part of the reason why I’m called the name I’m called. 

Why am I bringing up this topic? 

Well, mainly because I downloaded Billy Seol’s 108 writing prompts — and that was the first prompt. (Thank you for creating these and making them available for purchase 🙏). 

However, names are also such an intricate and fascinating part of cultures and languages, that this question really intrigued me. 

If we’re talking about getting children interested in the world around them again, what better start than to tell them something about themselves and how they’re connected to their family. Because isn’t a name really the first gift we give to a new baby? 

And they tell you so much about a culture! 

Who gets to choose the name? 

How is the name chosen? 

What are the criteria?