What are your names?

[hazysummerskies]

Mom thought about naming me Jessica. However, I ended up being Shana (Shan-nuh) Aileen (Al-Leen).

I have mixed feelings about my first name. I like it for the most part but many people mispronounce my name. I get Shay-nuh and Shawn-nuh a lot as the pronunciation, neither one which of which I am overly fond. To me, I always thought Shayna should be spelled like this and Shawna/Shauna like that but I understand the letter 'a' is pronounced several ways. People would probably have less trouble if mom had spelled it with two n's instead of one.

Likewise, I have mixed feelings about my middle name as it gets multiple pronunciations. I was named after my grandma Alma Aileen and her mother Alma Kate, called her "Al-Leen" so that's the way my mother always pronounced it. However, I think it should probably really be said as either Eye-Leen or Ay-Leen. I don't know you can just bypass up the i and go straight to the l but then again it wasn't exactly my choice. I say it as both Eye-Leen and Al-Leen now depending upon my mood.

Overall, I like my name though and I am thankful I wasn't named Jessica as it was the #1 most popular name the year I was born. In my opinion it's a nice name and one without much teasing potential - once you can teach stubborn people how to say it correctly anyway!

[brfechter]

I am the oldest of my 3 siblings...so when my Mom was pregnant with me she had no favorite names or any ideas planned before conceiving me. When she began looking at my names she said that the only thing she wanted in my name was for it to mean "strong". She wanted her baby to be strong and healthy. She said that once she saw the name Brianne she knew that was the one. If I would have been a boy I would have been Daniel, which then got used on my brother who was born after me.

[tressa]

I had two great- aunts (one on mom's side, one on dad's) who were both named Theresa nn Tressa.
Both were well over the age of 70 when I was born, so my parents decided it was time to bring the name back.

I love Tressa because I have never met another one (outside of family). Theresa's ok too. i like it because not many Theresas are my age (23), yet it is still a classic name.

As for my middle name, i was supposed to be born on Dec 15, and it was supposed to be Noelle in honor of Christmas, but I ended up being born 3 weeks late, so they scrapped it.
Then they liked the middle name of Mae (which I love) but they realized that my nickname and my middle name (Tressa Mae) sounded like that shampoo brand, TRESemme, so they scrapped that as well.
They finally settled on giving me the same middle name as my mom, which is Ann.

[aj_bear]

There was no name that was origionaly considered before I was finally named. I always Athena Janel. And there's no personal meaning behind it either. I've asked my mom several times why I was named Athena, and she said because it sounded pretty. She always throws in that my Dad picked my sisters name, so it was her turn.
I really like my first name, and I'm working on loving my middle. Janel is just so boring (at least to me) and it has no meaning at all. If I were named Athena Bernice (for my grandma) or Athena Viola (for my Grandmama) I would like it.
Oh well!
-Athena