Yesterday, I asked you to share the stories of your name, why you were named as you were, how you feel about your name, etc. Because of the wonderful responses I received (both in the comments and elsewhere), I felt I had better swallow my own medicine and share my name story today.
My name is Sarah.
My father’s name is Earl, and his sisters’ names all end in “eine” (as evidenced by my Aunt Georgeine, who comments sometimes on this blog). Rumor has it that my father wanted to name me “Earleine,” to follow tradition. My mother wanted “Sarah Elizabeth,” after the women in the Bible. I love my aunts and my father, but I can’t tell you how thankful I am that my mom won that argument.
Sarah and Elizabeth are both Hebrew names, meaning “princess” or “noblewoman” and “my God is an oath,” respectively. I don’t think I wear either of these names well in terms of my character, but I do love them both.
When I was young, I hated my name. I wanted a nickname, and there weren’t any nicknames to be had with the name “Sarah.” Or so I thought. Now, it is not uncommon to hear folks calling me by any number of Sarah-derivatives: Sar, Sarie, Hahahaha, even “semmie” came from my real name.
Maybe I would have made a better “Earleine” than I do “Sarah,” but…I like to think I’m growing into my name. After all, if “Sarah” means “princess,” then that means I am the daughter of a King; and that has been the greatest struggle of my life thus far–to see myself as God’s daughter. But I’m working on it. And He’s working on me.
Pax Christi. Enjoy your weekend, all!
barefooted semmie 
Juliet:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) by William Shakepeare
My wife wanted to name our daughter “Sarah Elizabeth”, but I already had a cousin by that name. My first name, “Steven”, means “crown”. My last name, “Ward”, has several meanings around the definition “to guard, or to be guarded by”. My middle name is sort of vague. Having Scottish roots, It’s the name of a place and a surname of a long line of Scottish earls. It’s possibly derieved from “cet”, an old English word for “wood”.
Wood? Oh,well…. After all, “What’s in a name?…”
Shalom! And have a great weekend!
Steve
Maybe you are the Crowned Guardian of Trees…?
I don’t know, especially because I don’t go around hugging trees. How about A Crown, The Cross (made of wood) and a ward (It also means someone in a guardianship.) of God!?
Shalom!
Hey, semmie,
Visiting my grandson Zak (-ariah) and surprising my daughter Allison in Bethelem (house of bread) PA this weekend. Moravian (Anabaptists) football and wedding anniversary made this 3 1/2 hr trip a pleasure. My son Gregory (watchman) drove.
David (Beloved of God) Wade (in water with your shoes off)
Hehehehe. Enjoy your weekend, Dave. 🙂
very interesting, and I’ve never really given much thought about my name. Kinda makes me think now though. I know I was named after my dad and grandfather. I sometimes wish my mom would have stuck it out in that argument and not named me after my dad. I dunno
Gary: “spear” http://www.behindthename.com/name/gary
Tad: Short form of Thaddeus: “heart” http://www.behindthename.com/name/thaddeus
It seems appropriate to me, all affiliations with your fathers aside. You are wild and funny, but when you are serious, your words are like a “spear” to the “heart.”
Love ya, Tad!
It’s great that you’re starting to like your name. I’ve always hated mine. My name is Soenanda, but no one ever calls me that.
It is interesting that you usually get the name that fits your personality.
hmm…I was going to post on here after seeing this, then couldn’t because the site was blocked at work. but thnforgot to come back and post about my name. but I always thought I was the one they wanted to be name Earliene? but perhaps I was….and mom won and got to name me Kristin, and then Maggie was going to be called Earliene, but then mom won and then YOU were going to be called Earliene, and mom won again! What a glorious victorious name-warrior our momma is!!! (among other wonderful things. hehehe)
butMY name….Kristin, means “follower of Christ”. Now I think that Kristin is a derivative of Christian, which would make sense…(and i think somone told me that? or I read it somewhere?) and I thought I had something more profound to say about my name, but I dont.
I asked mom again, and she said she doesn’t remember that dad wanted to name anyone Earleine except me. So I dunno.
Mom named you Kristin precisely because it was a variant of “Christian.” As for the other names in the family, I don’t know off the top of my head, but I have it all written down somewhere. I’ll email it to you if you want–but I don’t think there is much story to any of the names; they were just names mom liked, I think.
But looky here…I may be a princess, but you are a queen! What a royal family we are. 🙂 http://www.behindthename.com/name/christina