11 April 2012

What's In A (Random) Name? With Apologies to William Shakespeare




It's a random day here at my cottage by the sea
.  The weather is a bit gloomy, rain on and off but, my garden is loving it and it's a perfect day for blogging.  I usually give you a photo of the sunset  at the end of my posts but, because today I'm concentrating on random, here it is at the beginning.


The end.

God's artwork never ceases to amaze me.
I was inspired to write today, by a prompt posed over at Mama Kat's Pretty Much Famous Writers Workshop.  She posed the question, "What did you want your name to be?"  Funny you should ask I pondered, because although my husband loves my name, and I think it looks good on others,  I have never been satisfied with it for myself.  When I was a little girl I was constantly changing it up.  While it's a tad embarrassing, we're all friends here, so I feel free to let ya in on a little bit of my crazy!  Besides, there is a moral to this story.

First off, my given name isn't actually Tia. When you reply to my email it may be a bit confusing because you can then see both of my names, and you may think, what's up with that?  So for all the two of you who want to know; here's what's up with that! 




My youngest grandchild is named Abigail Rose.  I love her name.  Abigail comes from the Hebrew and means, "The Father's Joy".  It doesn't get much better than that, and she's definitely her daddy's girl, so it sure does fit. Now you may be thinking, well that's certainly random.  But really, it's not.  I just wanted to show off a picture of my cute little granddaughter and it seemed the perfect way to squeeze it in.


Just two years before Abigail was born, and after having four rambunctious little boys, my daughter and son-in-law yearned to adopt a little girl. Pink started to dominate over at their house of blue.  It looked like someone shook up a bottle of Pepto Bismol and let-r-loose all over their house, car, and backyard.  A princess was born, and began her reign at their household.  There Are Those Who Think Families Happen By Chance, is a post I wrote about my daughter's heart for adoption and the gift we got when this little one was born.  They named her Emma, from the Hebrew meaning, "God is with us".  Emma and Abigail, beautiful sisters with beautiful names. And what do ya know?  I snuck in another picture of my darling granddaughters.


Now randomly,  back to my original story, and the name given to me at my birth.  Lori, which I believe originates from the English and means... "Truck".  Yeah, so here's how that happened.


When I was about eleven my mom sprung it on me, that she had never really liked my given Christian name.  She told me that she didn't even choose it for heavens sake!  Her first choice had been Mary, but I had a cousin born just before me and they called her Mary so... My mom told me that in the hospital after my birth, when she was using the rest room, the nurse came in to find out and record my name for the birth certificate.  My Grandma was there and she told the nurse, since my mom was indisposed at the time, that my name would be Lori.  She just happened to like the name Lori and she said it was a derivative of Mary, which may or may not be true but, there you have it.  The women in my family are doers.  The baby needed naming and she needed naming right now!  So my grandma took care of it, bam!  You're welcome.


In other words, Mary became Lori in the time it takes to turn off the bathroom light.  From the original Hebrew, Mary means, "Gods Gift," "Wished For Child," "Sea of Bitterness" - What? Screeeeech!
"Sea of Bitterness"? I believe that last definition was from the Greeks.  The name my grandmother gave me, was the name that everybody called me for the first 20 or so years of my life but, it wasn't Mary, and it wasn't Tia which, is what I'm called today.


It wasn't Mitzi either, which is a name I randomly chose for myself once, back in Junior High School.  I had recently graduated grammar school and being that I was starting anew, I  decided I might as well use the opportunity to forge a new identity with a fresh, new, name.  Henceforth I was to be called, Mitzi.  I forged signed  all my own paperwork at school anyway, being an extremely independent child, an understatement for those of you who know me.  I also had a very Irish surname so, Mitzi for a first name was an unusual choice, to say the least.  Imagine if you will, something like, Mitzi O'Shenanigan.  (Obviously not my real name) but, you get the picture.  I don't even remember how I pulled that name out of the hat at the time, but in the Hebrew Mitzi means, "Small and Bitter". Just like Mary which supposedly has the distinction of having Lori as a derivative.  Seriously, I don't make this stuff up.  You can Google it.  Ironic or random? You decide.   


I'd just transferred from a small, religious school which had about ten kids to a class, all of whom had become best friends, to a huge, over-crowded public school where I was completely lost in the crowd.  Bitter?  Much you think?  I guess not so random after all.  The name Mitzi lasted for the entire semester of 7th grade until, when I came back to school after a break someone called out, "Mitziiiiii", and I didn't even look back.  I can be like that; don't judge.  Every girl reserves the right to change her mind now and then.  So, then I went back to my original given name, "Lori".  "Truck?" 

When my eldest sister started having babies, (my 8 beautiful, awesome nieces and nephews) they all started calling me Tia, which is, the Spanish word for Auntie.  The fact that we aren't Mexican, or even hail from any Spanish speaking country has nothing to do with it.  She and the kids called me Tia out of love.  They nicknamed me the name that they, and all their friends and family would call me to this day.  It makes me feel warm and happy and loved and special, and that's what your name should do, right? I have since Googled the name Tia and found to my delight that it is also of the Celtic origin meaning, "Princess".  It can also be traced back to the Greek, in ancient times, and was an abbreviation for names like Dorothea and Althea.  The Mythological Thea was the Greek Goddess of Light, Mother of the Sun, Moon and Dawn.  And in Japanese, it means "Angel".  

So the moral of this story is, (remember, I told you there would be a moral to this story). Do NOT go to the bathroom after you have a baby if your mother is there, or she might randomly name your baby something you hate!


Hello, you can just call me Tia because, after all, what's in a name?






When I was little all I ever wanted to do was grow up and raise babies, which I've been doing (in my humble opinion) successfully, since 1976.  I always knew I wanted to be a mom and grow a big family full of kids and pets.  I started off with pets and used up a few of my favorite names on them.  Then I had my first daughter and I called her Tara. The name Tara originates from the Gaelic and one of the meanings is "God Fearing And Pious".  Another is, "Smiling".  As you may be starting to get the gist of, names can have many different meanings and if you Google hard enough you can find just the one you like!  Tara is the mother of those sweet baby girls you met earlier in my post and her sweet hubby Jason stands right beside her here.  His name means, "Healer," and kudos to his mom because that's a great name.  I unfortunately can't take any credit for that one.  Tara however, was my idea, and another meaning for her name is,"Star on a Hill". Which it turns out is ironic because, when I decided years later to be a foster mom, my first foster baby was named Michael and, he had a biological sister named "Star Hill".  Wow!  My life is not only random, it may be ironic, and I think I just might be psychic.  All right, I concur, perhaps just a wee bit psychotic.  Whatever, it's all random.  


I went on to birth, foster and adopt, a whole pack-a-kids over the years.  Ten of them to be exact. I also had many dogs and cats and various other creatures great and small. You might be starting to see a trend towards my love of names and naming; I know I am.  Let's just say that it's a good thing my family stopped growing  when it did because, after naming my last dog Maggie, I thought I'd used up all the best names I could think of.  So when my last kid came along, I named her Maggie as well.  Yep, I really did.  It was the name I had chosen for my beloved Irish Wolfhound, so I didn't want it to be lost.  I wanted that name to live on, therefore my youngest daughter, was named for my favorite dog.  It's true and I'm darn proud of it and so is she!  She's just glad that I didn't name her after any of my childhood dogs, because then her name might be Flash or Putzie.


The origin of the name Maggie is Ireland, and there is also a saint by that name.  It means "Pearl" which all the books say is similar to the name Elizabeth which was my grandmother's name.  I gave one of my other daughter's the middle name Elizabeth too, only I spelled it Elisabeth with an s, because that is how her great grandmother spelled it.  Just to solidify all of this for you, during my extensive research whilst Googling the name Mitzi and its meaning, I found that it meant small or bitter and in so doing I looked up the name Mary which is what my mother originally wanted to call me.  Holy shmokes, it also meant bitter!  Then again, it was also the name of the mother of Jesus.  So I guess it all worked out in the end. Random?  I think not.







By the way, I didn't do all this naming on my own.  Oh, no siree.  That guy to your left there. He helped!  Yeah, go ahead buddy have a drink, you deserve it, and after this post I think anybody would agree.  

I hope you have been amused and, at the very least will forgive me now. Just keep in mind that I write this blog because I don't golf


So in answer to the question from Mama Kat's workshop: What did you want your name to be?


Grace.  I wanted my name to be, Grace.

God loves you and I do too!

Blessings,

Tia  :)


Oh, and by the way, for all you Lori's out there - Here's the real low down.


Lori


Latin: honor, fame, spirit
French: crowned with laurel
Hebrew: lovely and beautiful,
             wise person, smart one.  Oh, snap!

17 comments:

NanaDiana said...

Well, first off, I was glad to see a random post from good old whats-her-name~you (no apologies to anyone). I see you have chosen some GOOD names over they years. My oldest is Tara, too...and my next was to be Maggie but we changed it at the last minute to Mindy (and now everyone calls her Mimi). She looked like a little miniature rosebud and so it was....Mindy Rose. I named her while MyHero was out of the room..cuz I am just that take charge kinda gal...yeah...I am my own mother.

I loved this post, Tia. Names are such funny things, aren't they? I was given a different first name and then called by my middle name since I was born. So, I always wondered WHY that happened..and no one knew. Rather an odd Irish household I grew up in...surrounded by cousins named Rosemary and Eileen & Stephen & Mary Frances& then there were the Maureens & the Margaurites & Margarets...and there I was...funny first name-call me by name #2.

I always liked Grace but because I am partial to tripping over nothing that would NOT have been a apt name for me...perhaps Stumbler would have worked? Or Tripsie-a morph of the name Trixie?

We let MyHero name our last pet- He came up with Sugar...and, because he had also named the cat we had a Spice...yes...that is right- Sugar and Spice...(and neither was nice).

Well, I guess I have worked this subject to death so I am off now. Have a great California night- xo Diana

Lynne said...

Happy to her you re still writing, Lori, Tia, Grace and . . . .

Lynne said...

I will try that again, happy to hear you are still writing . . . Lori, Tia, Grace and . . .

Bluebells and Lavender said...

Hi Lori?? This is an interesting and amusing post! I too believe in the power of a name, but when I was first married I had no idea...but God was obviously with me as I called our first-born Claire-Louise which is French/Old German and the inherent meaning if Brilliant/Protectress, Melissa meaning Honeybee in Greek, meaning industrious and creative, and our Son, who was born many years later, Samuel David (meaning God has heard/Beloved of God) - so when people want to name their new born babies and they tell me they're not interested in the meaning of the name...I want to shout it from the rooftops - it's all in the name! Take care lovely and beautiful Lori...Sharon

Margaret (Peggy or Peg too) said...

So much more fascinating than how I got my name!

Jennifer - Treading Water in the Kiddie Pool said...

What beautiful pictures and you have such an interesting story! I look forward to exploring more...glad to have found you.

Unknown said...

Dear Lori, Tia, Grace, Ten Children?????? You get to call yourself whatever you want and more power to you!
Rosemary

bichonpawz said...

Dear Mom of Ten Children aka Lori or Tia or Grace: You are a saint indeed!! What an interesting post!! Blessings to you my friend!! xo
Jeanne (just one name and just one daughter!)

Julia said...

My daughter's name is Lorrie. I knew from the age of 9 that I would one day have a daughter and I even wrote it down on paper that her name would be Lorrie.

Tiffany said...

I was an unnamed child for nearly a week in the hospital post birth. Thanks to my Mother coming across a sweet, yet unfortunately ugly baby, with the same exact name she was going to give me. So she plucked my current name out of thin air just so she could sign some papers and get us all out of there. Little did she know, both my first and middle name mean in the appearance or likeness of God. Crazy stuff. Glad I don't have any crazy God complex.

Your grandbabies are beautiful, BEAUTIFUL! You are so blessed with all the family and love you have surrounding you. Great post!

Heaven's Walk said...

WHEW! I am SO glad to hear that my name means something other than "TRUCK"! lolol! I do believe I like "lovely, beautiful, and wise" MUCH better, Tia! hehehe! What a fun and interesting post today! You did alot of homework on those names, didn't you?? I have always loved the name "Grace" which is why our beloved little pooch is Maizie Grace. :)

xoxo laurie

An Island Mom said...

Wow, great information on several names here. When my younger sister was born, I decided that I wanted her name instead. My thinking was that the family basically now had "rights" to her name, so what would it hurt to just quickly switch our names before she was old enough to notice? I don't want to know how much I pestered them about this. :)

Liz @ Quirky Vistas said...

Love your stories, and yes, God's artwork is something to behold from the people to the scenery. You just gotta love seeing his hand in it all!

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...

LOL.. what a fun post! Thank you, Grace :-)

bichonpawz said...

Hi Tia! Just popping over to say Happy Mother's Day!!! Hope you have a wonderful day!!
xo
Jeanne

Heaven's Walk said...

Dearest Lori -

I must apologize for not getting back to you sooner than this. Life was pretty crazy here during April, but is slowly beginning to settle down now, thank goodness. :) And for some reason, my computer does not like your email address and won't send out the replies I write to you from my email account! So I'm sending this directly from your blog post in hopes it'll get to you this time. :)

Anyway, I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help, your communication, your willing to seek out answers, and your determination in getting them for me. It was very interesting to hear what Dr. Aisen had to say. Thank you thank you thank you! ♥ God bless you! I hope you how much you mean to me!! I printed off your reply and am keeping it in Mom's file.

I guess that all we can do is take things one day at a time, thank God for each and every moment, and pray that a cure for Alzheimer's is discovered sooner rather than later.

Sending you a huge {{HUG}} and lots of love, my friend. God bless you!!!!!

xoxo laurie

Simple Home said...

I loved, loved, loved this post, Lori, Mitzi, Tia :)) I loved your story about how you were named because the same thing happened to me, except it was my dad that gave them the name. My mom said they'd talked about several names but hadn't decided on one, and she too was indisposed (too funny) when they came in. When she came out, my dad told her my name was Marcia. Named after a waitress, I was. They'd seen it on her nametag somewhere and he liked it. Oh, and it means "Warlike"...wow :) I don't remember liking or disliking it when I was growing up, but having long blonde hair parted in the middle during The Brady Bunch years helped me appreciate it a little bit.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful, random story!!
Blessings,
Marcia