My Name

OK. So I got this ECR back a couple of weeks ago, and Mom suggested I post it on my blog because I got a perfect score.

Rachel Janice Allred. I've always liked my name. I feel a surge of pride when I see or hear it. I can feel its importance as it marches off my tough. In my ears my name is a winter morning. Brisk and invigorating. I can almost see old man winter standing over me, watching my every move. I was born in winter and I thrive in winter. My name is like the Christmas ornament hanging on the bottom of the tree, or the stars that always shine brighter in December. However, if you look beyond that you see my name is more. My name has a history and a distinctive origin, it means something to my family, and it is also the root of every thing that defines me.

The origin of my name is as good as any to start. My first name, Rachel, has always been one of my mother’s favorite two names. Rachel and Elizabeth. She had already named my oldest sister Elizabeth, so Rachel it was. The name Allred has a lot of history. James Allred and his four sons went west with the pioneers. They each started a settlement and apparently every one west of Denver knows at least one Allred. My middle name has a truly special meaning to my dad. My names origin is important because it defines me and connects me to my family’s history.

The importance too my family is another reason my name is so wonderful. I’ve already stated that my middle name has a special meaning to my father. He picked the name Janice because of my great-grand father Janus. When my dad talks about his grandpa you can just hear the admiration dripping in his voice. “He could fix any-thing” my dad would state proudly, “he was just a good man”. I often wonder how my great-grandpa would have felt about me carrying his name. The importance of my name to my father makes me important.

I have pride in my name. I’ve never felt much of a need to change it. Therefore I don’t have many nick-names, and the two nick names I have both stem from my name. Rachel. They are Ray-Bay and Reading Rachel. Reading Rachel is a pretty self explanatory name. I love to read. I would read every spar minute I had. I would even read while I walked. Ray-Bay is a little more challenging to explain. It come from the fact that my mom called me her “little ray of sun shine”. That and the fact that I was the baby of the family got shortened to Ray-Bay. You could say that because neither Ray-Bay nor Reading Rachel is that far from Rachel, my given name, that my name is the root of my identity.

My name is very significant. It signifies who I am. It links me to my ancestors and to history. It has a valuable meaning to my family and people who love me. most importantly it and names rooting from it are key to my identity as a person. Without my name I would not be who I am today.