Why do I have this name?

[tedscout]

I am called Ted - strange for a female I know - but would you believe it is short for Patricia.

I was named after my mum's sister who died when she was 7 and my mum was 14.

My middle name is after my dad's sister.

So I'm named after 2 aunties - one I never met but was much remembered, and one who was also my God Mother and a huge part of my youth.

I love my name. Cheers Ted

[esdel]

I am Esdel because there are two!

My "big" brother had a friend he played with, called Esdel.
So in the childish wisdom they all have he was sure that all folk younger than him were "Esdel".
Hence I became Esdel

[Musicman]

My mother hated both her forenames.  She was to be christened Jessica Margaret after two aunts.  Her father went to register the baby and, on being asked the names - he replied, in his Scottish accent: “Aye, that’ll be Jessie Maggie” - so that was put on the certificate!

Just an aside - had I arrived in the “other variety” I would have been Margaret Olive . . .   

John

[BevL]

Mine is Beverley Rae - My grandmother's name was Rachel, but they shortened it to Rae. Mum wanted to call me Ailsa Rae (which I would have loved), but my brother and sister didn't like it so Beverley I became.  (I came along late and I think it was to appease them!!!)
I am known as Rae and when I went to school there was another girl called Rae in my class.
Bev

[tedscout]

My grandparents had 7 children. 5 girls and 2 boys. My grandfather's name was Fred - not Fredick or anything else just Fred.

The boys were named after family members (neither was Fred) and the girls were all mean't to be Fredricka after their dad.

So on 5 occasions he set off to the registry office to register the births of his daughters -  shouting as he left the house - "back soon off to register Fredricka".

Guess what - not one of the girls is named Fredricka - he had a change of heart every time and chose another name on the way to the registry office.

LOL, Ted

[Eleesavet]

My mother wanted to call me Rose but her mother said that she should call me Elizabeth after my father's sister, who never married.  Hence the name Elizabeth.  (I wonder if my gran was being mercenary, thinking I would have more to inherit ... No, I don't think so.)
Anyway, when at school I thought Elizabeth was a mouthful and sounded posh so I shortened it to Liz.
Only my family call me Elizabeth apart from my husband who has always known me as Liz.  If a family or non-family member call me by the other name it sounds weird.
The Greek for Elizabeth is el-ee-SA-vet, which I really like, and sometimes I am called that as I now live in Greece.
Looking back though I wish I had shortened Elizabeth to Beth but count my blessings that I wasn't given the name Rose.  (No offence meant to the Roses out there, it is just that Rose wouldn't suit me.)

[Deb D]

My parents liked "Deborah" ... but weren't keen on the spelling.  So when the actress Debra Paget appeared, their problem was solved.

Thirty-something years ago, ... my eldest daughter's name came from Frank Herbert's "Dune".  We'd bickered over a girl's name for nine months, and as I've mentioned before, we only chose the name on the way to the hospital, with my labour pains three minutes apart, and hubby beginning to panic about all the red lights on the highway.  So I opened "Dune" (which, foolishly, I'd thought I might get to read whilst in hospital!) at a random page, and the first female name I came across was the one we used.  #1 daughter is, therefore, ... Alia.

And she has red hair, too, - just like Alia Atreides.

[Just Kia]

My mother had intended to name me after herself - she has an unusual name. I've only known of 1 other with the name. She didn't in the end because she didn't want people to think she was being narcissistic, but I would have loved the name.

In the end she called me Stephanie and I hate it, very rarely use it, and almost everyone knows me as Kia for the past 12 years or so.
My name was used to bully me (not to mentioned that the spelling got butchered by pretty much everyone too) when I was at junior school which really didn't help and when added with my surname which was also used to bully me I came to despise my name.
Grandma thought it was "pretty" and so for all my early life I was called by Stephanie, not a shortened version, and no one ever thought to use my middle name, even though I used to get so upset with my name.

I was really excited to change my surname when I got married. The year leading up to the wedding I got very much into family history and in the end I kept my maiden name as an additional middle name

My middle name is Ellen, after my mom's maternal Grandma who was Rose Ellen.
Mom is happy for me to ditch my name, she's sad that I didn't like what she chose but understands why I don't like it and thinks I should have a name I like.
My dad and Grandma on the other hand are very against my changing my name.

Hubby and I simply couldn't agree on a name we both liked for our late son. We wanted an older name, but not too old, uncommon, but not too unusual. We didn't want his initials to spell anything odd and it had work work with our surname. In the end we picked his name from a keyring stand in the souvenir shop at Cadbury World! He was Oliver Reece.

[BridgetM]

I was named after my mother's step-grandmother--who was estranged/separated from my mother's grandfather.