How Names Reflects Our Uniqueness

My name is like a puzzle piece that fits me. It brings me together. Each part of my name reflects a deeper part of my identity that people may look past. For instance, when some people hear my first name Lydia, they think of a more common and popular name Olivia. However, I like that my name is unique and how some people recognize that. My parents chose my name not only for the uniqueness, but especially for its religious significance. In the Bible, Lydia was a strong welcoming women who opened her own household to Apostles sharing the Christian faith.

The name Lydia has a Greek origin that means kind. Many people got inspired by this name by passing it on through the centuries. I find a similarity with the biblical Lydia because I like learning about different people, diversity, and cultures and bringing my art into this similarity. The closest people in my life think of my name as the friend, daughter, and sibling I am to each one of them. Sometimes my friends or family call me the nickname Lyd or Liddy. I know that when I hear someone calling me by that name, that person calling me close to me. My first name Lydia reflects my uniqueness and personality.

My middle name Kathryn reflects my relationship to my grandmother who shares that name with me. Interestingly the way I spell Kathryn along with my grandmother is not the typical or common way, which people usually mistaken. I am close to my grandma and often talk to her about a lot of things. I appreciate that I’m named after a woman who I respect and admire.

My last name Wee also fits my uniqueness, not only on the inside but on the outside too. My last name comes from my father’s family, which has been carried for many generations. My father grew up and was born in Singapore, which is located on the end of the Malaysian Peninsula. Singapore is a very diverse country influenced by different people who settled there. The British who colonized, the Malaysians who settled, and the Chinese who immigrated, in Singapore. The name and spelling of Wee is an English spelling of a Chinese based name, Zhangzhou.

My name in Chinese is Huang which means yellow. I have some Asian heritage but my father did not insist (make me) that I have a Chinese name or learn the Chinese language (because?) his mother was also mixed (part Chinese part Eurasian heritage). To sum up, my name lydia Kathryn wee reveals my fathers culture, my mother's family, and my families beliefs. My name means to me that I can explore the different cultures, families, and beliefs that come from my name and become my own person influenced with each of those.