One Name is Enough

What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance?

My two sisters and I were not born with middle names! The story is my parents thought one name a piece was enough. Isn’t that weird? They both had middle names! Why couldn’t they give us one?

At 12 years old when I got closer to my confirmation, not having a middle name turned out pretty nice because I got to choose it myself! I ran through a variety of names but you know, it had to sound right with my first name which is Nancy. Nancy Ann – nah, too plain. Nancy Elizabeth, my mother’s name – not bad, but my sister snagged that. Julia? Antoinette, Helen? All names of aunts, No, No, and No.

I settled on Catherine. It was the name of my mother’s favorite cousin, but she spelled hers with a K and I didn’t like the way the initials looked or sounded 😂. NCJ had more appeal to me than NKJ. So Nancy Catherine Jakiela is was!

After I got married I dropped the middle name and took my maiden name for my middle name. Catherine didn’t stick around for very long but it was good while it lasted.