My Name

Before I was born there was a lot of debate between my parents and the rest of the immediate family on what my name was going to be. If I was a girl my mom wanted my name to be sydney, but my dad didn’t like that name because if people abbreviated my name it would be Syd and that’s a boy name. My dad chose the name Alexis which my mom didn’t like because my cousins name is Alex. If I was a boy both of my parents agreed on the name Connor, but I wasn’t born a gender that my parents agreed with a name. After giving birth my mom and dad were still unsure, they attempted to come to a mutual decision on a name but with no success.

Moments later the rest of my family arrived, my dad and my uncle began talking about skiing, which is an important sport my entire family participates in. Randomly, my dad shouts out the name, Hannah and explains it would be a good skier name, my mom agreed. My dad’s idea was right because Hannah Kearney because an olympic gold medalist who grew up skiing in the town where I ski.

It’s a tradition in my family for girls born to have their moms name as their middle name and for boys born to have their father’s name. My fathers dads name is Jean so my dad’s middle name is Jean and my mother has the same middle name but it is her mothers name, Jeanne. Now my middle name is Kristine because that’s my mom’s name. There is no important reasoning behind why my family decided to have their names be their children’s middle name.

My distant relatives came here from France with the last name Bellerose. Back then in France people replaced their last names with the town they lived in. For my family that was Bellerose, France. Before people starting replacing their last names with their town my family had the last name Rival. I don’t know the significance and meaning behind this name or where it came from.