Tag: names

Posted in 2024, family, life, Memories, Writing

One Name is Enough

Posted on by nancyb422

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.

Posted in 2023, family, life, Writing

Family Folklore

Posted on by nancyb422

Where did your name come from?

I have a twin sister and our dad always joked that he wanted to name us Gretchen and Gwendolyn but our mother refused because they were the names of two dogs in the neighborhood!?! We would argue over who might have received which name. Since I’m older and Gretchen was always said first, i claimed that would have been mine. I’m hindsight, Gwendolyn could have been shortened to Gwen and “Gretch”=nope.

So we became Nancy (me) and Gail. It was 1960 and I think mine was a popular name because of Nancy Sinatra. I don’t know where Gail’s name was plucked from. My older sister is Janice. I don’t know where that came from either.

It’s funny because of all our generation of cousins, we are the only three who don’t have a “family name”. No Julia, Elizabeth, etc. and certainly no “catholic/saint names”!

Also, none of us were given middle names. One name was enough we were told. What the heck?

Nancy is ok but for some reason people call me Cathy by mistake. I tell them, “call me whatever you want, just don’t call me late for dinner”. Hahaha

Posted in 2023, Memories, Writing

What’s Your Name?

Posted on by nancyb422

What’s the story behind your nickname?

I’ve had a couple of nicknames based on my last name but those were more teasing than actual nicknames.

The one true nickname I’ve had since high school is JakTwin which eventually got shortened to Jak. My last name was Jakiela and I am a twin. My sister and I started out as JakTwin 1 and JakTwin 2, names given to us by friends.

It was shortened to Jak by a boyfriend who loved to give people nicknames. I accepted it and it was quickly adopted by my new group of friends through him. It was so often used that his father actually thought my first name was Jackie!

When I met my husband, it was with a friend from this group (that other boyfriend long gone) and since she called me Jak, so did the man who would become my husband. His friends still call me Jak after 36 years but now he usually calls me Nancy.

Posted in 2023, Shower Thoughts, Writing

What’s In a Name Leads to Phonetics Questions

Posted on by nancyb422

Shower thoughts. We’ve all got them right? Here’s mine from today….

I want to send a thank you card to a remodel company owner and staff who hosted an open house when I was in Ann Arbor Michigan last week. Actually, it was in my reminders for Monday, but life and that “jump into routine” mode got in the way. Hence, me thinking about it in the shower!

His name is Jef. Short and sweet. But where’s the customary second F? Was he born Jef? Jefrey? Jeffrey shortened and dropped the second F? So many thoughts none of which turned into actual questions!

That lead me down the rabbit hole to vowels, consonants and what happens when you put them together.

We learn in elementary school that a vowel followed by 2 consonants will give the vowel a short sound. But a vowel followed by one consonant gives it a long sound. Right?

I started going down the list of names in my family. Nancy – the A has the NC before the Y. Cool. But Janice only has the C between the I and E which signals a long I. JanIce. Hmm what’s up with that?

Steven – gives a long E but Stephen? Well, that’s pronounced the same but shouldn’t because of the PH!

Mark – no surprise, Cody – the same, but what’s up with E-m-I-l-y! No wonder words are hard for a beginner!

My first item of business today will be my thank you card to Jef!