In honor of THE NAMESAKE and Kal Penn's character "Gogol," we asked Searchlight employees about the origins of their own first names -- and received some interesting answers. See the results below!
Veronica
"Veronica is a very common name in Argentina, my homeland, and my parents
thought it was pretty."
Sonia
"My parents named me Sonia because it means "wisdom and light" and because
it's Spanish, like my momma's momma would have liked."
KJ
"My name is pretty different, and since I am a child of the 70s, my
parents wanted to be different so they created my name by joining two
boy's names together... 'KJ' stands for 'Kristjon.'"
Natalya
"I was named after my grandma. Also, my parents really liked
the Latin meaning of my name (rebirth, the one that prolongs
life)."
Roya
"My mom always wanted to name her daughter Roya -- it means "dream" in
Farsi (Persian). My last name means "lawyer." Guess what my parents
wanted me to be when I grew up?"
Ruth
"I was named after a kick-ass great aunt."
Samantha
"I was named after the TV show 'Bewitched' because it's the only thing my
parents both liked to watch. My middle name, Avrah, is the name of some girl
in a TV movie my Mom and Dad watched where there was a father\daughter scene
and that's when my Dad decided he wanted children. (Lame.)"
Paula
"I'm named after my grandma Paula."
Loren (short for Lorenzo)
"They wanted a socially maladjusted child."
Jason
My mother liked watching 'The Waltons' and my uncle hated the name
Brandon.
Jared
"I was named after a character in a 70's mini-series called 'The Seekers'
that my parents saw on televison. I'm too scared to research it."
Jamie
"I was named 'James' after uncles on each of my parent's sides of the family
in a mostly-successful attempt to placate various matriachs. And since the neighborhood bully 'Jimmy' knocked around my 6-year-old brother -- on the day I was born, mind you -- 'Jimmy' lost all appeal as a nickname. So I became 'Jamie.'
Dana
"They couldn’t come to a mutual decision on a name they liked. So they just
decided to take my aunt’s name (Yardena) and shorten it to Dana. I never got
a middle name though since they thought my last name was too long."
Deva
"My mom traveled all over the world for ten years before I was born - Deva
is Hindu."
Keith
"Well my name is Keith Jr. so I guess it's pretty self explanatory."
Michelle
"Parents loved the Beatles."
Ray
"My father lost a poker game to a Hall of Fame Green Bay Packer
linebacker and promised to name his kid after him."
Dan
"Parents chose my name because it honored my Irish heritage while
still being pronounceable in Spanish. (They were living in Mexico.)"
Greg
"I was named for my mom's ex-boyfriend."
Debi
"I think I was named after one of my mom's best friends, Deb - who was a
bridesmaid at her wedding. I do know that my mother wanted to call me
'DeeDee' - and I think my Dad told her that DeeDee is a fat girl's name.
(Thank God for fathers.)
James
"My mother's brother."
Thomas
"I'm a 3rd, named after my father, who was named after his uncle who died in Italy in WWII."
Emmy
My mother named me Emmy because she learned English by watching lots of
TV (Aaron Spelling shows were her favorite). She was pregnant with me
when she was watching the Emmy Awards show.
Bill
"Uncle's first name + Dad’s middle name = me."
Kacey
"I am the 3rd of five girls. My parents desperately wanted at least one boy.
They gave us all male names up until we were born. I believe my name was
supposed to be 'Andrew,' but I think it came down to pulling out a baby book
and reconfiguring my grandmother's Irish maiden name ('Casey') to make it my
own. There you have it: 'Kacey.'"
Want to share the story behind your own first name? Share it with us in the comments box below!
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