Andy Ayissou

Professor Michal Eskayo

ESL 100

September 6, 2023

                                                The Story Behind my Name.

We all like to be called by a name. It is a word used as an identity that has an important meaning for the owner. Sometimes, it happens that people hate their name because of the meaning or the person that gave them or owned the name in the past. My full name is Andy Daniel Ayissou. I got my last name from my great grandfather, my middle name from my lovely mother, and my first name from my resourceful father.

The name Ayissou is my great grandfather whose full name is Kodjo Ayissou. That name has been given from generations to generations. Ayissou means a farmer who especially sows a clump of beans. As my grandfather told my father, Ayissou was given to my great grandfather by his friend because his agriculture was based more on beans than any other cereal farming. He was the third best Sower in the region. He was rich because of his farm and had seven wives.

In addition, my middle name was from my lovely mother. It was her own decision. In other words, she gave me that name without consulting my father because he wasn’t present on the day of my birth. My mother was nineteen and living with her sister when she got pregnant. After being insulted and judged by her sister during her eight months of pregnancy, she fled to her mother in a different city where she gave birth to a little boy who she named Daniel. My father found out later that my mother was pregnant, but since she was in a different city, he could visit her. She gave me the name Daniel because it is a character from the bible that is intelligent and brave.

            Finally, my first name Andy came from my father when he visited my mother and saw me for the first time. The name Andy is derived from Andreas which is a Greek name. It means manly, brave, and warrior. The first time that I asked my father why he gave me that name, he told me that he likes the meaning which is brave and the fact that it is short and easy to pronounce.

            I love my names because of their meanings and because they all from different people that mean a lot in my life.

 

Tujuba Dufera

ESL 100

 September 4,2023

                                               A Lot of Water

     According to our traditional family, parents give a name for their newborn depending on a variety of reasons. The most common parents try to give a name that describes a baby. For Example, to describe a baby born on a holiday, they give a baby name like Ayana for a boy and Ayane or Ayantu for a girl. In Afan Oromo Ayana, Ayane or Ayantu means lucky or a person born on holiday. Afan Oromo is a language of Oromo people, spoken in Northeast Africa and mostly Ethiopia and Kenya. The way my parents gave a name to me is similar to this one.

       My name is Tujuba. My parents said my big brother gave me this name. He heard this name from his school, and he gave me this name because I was a big baby when I was born. In Afan Oromo, Tujuba means lot of water that accumulates in a certain place. I do not like my name that much because when it comes to people's names, it means big person or big baby that inactive. When I was in seventh grade, I tried to change my name to Guta. In Afan Oromo, Guta means full. I like Guta because it is short and easily understood by many people. I also tried to change my name after I moved to Chicago, but it seemed complicated for me because I needed to change all my documents. The way I think about it now is that it does not matter to change the name, but I need to change my personality to become an educated person who helps others.

        I have a nickname that my classmates gave me when I was in elementary school, Tuja. I have always been called by my nickname by my classmates and friends during my stay in my hometown. When they called me by my nickname, I felt happy.

     

 

A Difficult Decision

 

A Difficult Decision

 

My name is Leila. Leila is an Arabic name which means “sweetness of the night” and it is also an important name in the Quran. I really like my name, and there are some stories behind it. My mom chose to give me three names: my two grandmothers’ names and a name that she and my father chose, So I ended with Tinamy Leila Emmanuela Ihmane. In fact, between these names, my parents gave me the name Emmanuela. Emmanuela is a Christian name because my father was Christian, and my mother is Muslim. The story behind my name is that I was supposed to be Mariam instead of Leila. Hence, I think my grandmother had a kind of argument with my father because my father didn’t want me to be called Mariam because, it sounds too Muslim because my father’s family doesn’t like Muslim people. In fact, my mother wasn’t happy with the fact that I had his mother’s name and not her mother’s name. Again, my mom has her grandmother’s name too, so she wanted the same for her firstborn. My grandmother was sad indeed because I am her first grandchild.

Finally, my mother ended up with a pact with both my grandmother and my father. My grandmother finally chose the names Leila, and my father was fine with the name. 

A Big fight

 Rojin Bozorgi

ESL 100

September 19 ,2023

A Big fight 

    When couples realize that they will be known as fathers and mothers, the first thing that they think about is what is the best name for their children.My official name is Reihaneh. However, everyone calls me Rojin.Rojin means sunrise in the Kurdish language. For this reason, I like my name. It's pretty artistic, and I don't want to change It. When my mother wanted to get my ID, my grandmother was not happy. She said that no, you must call her Reihaneh.Reihaneh is an Arabic name for girls. Reihaneh is a beautiful name, but it was not for me.My mother worked really hard, and she had a lot of arguments with her mother-in-law about choosing the name for me. unfortunately, my grandmother got her goal. But my mother introduced me to everyone with Rojin. The funniest thing about this difference in my name belongs to when I went to school for the first time. When we went to school, I didn't know that my name was Reihaneh, and after searching in my school office, I found out that my real name was Reihaneh in my ID.

 Almost everyone knows me as Rojin, however in administrative affairs, I am known as the don't forget that I’m Rojin, I’m Hope, and I’m Sunrise.

Best Wishes

           When a baby is born, it is an especially important moment for the family. Most parents want to give their best wishes to their babies.

           My mother told me that my father and her were extremely excited when I was born. However, I was weak when I was a baby because my weight was low, and I had a weak immune system. As a paren, they were very worried about me because I use to get a cold or fever easily. I even had to stay at hospital   to get some treatment. Because of these reason, they hoped there was a name which could bring luck to me. My grandfather was know for picking names if someone likes having the name which has specific meaning. My parents told my grandfather what they wanted with the name. Then, he looked through many books to find the name to suit my situation. Finally, my grandfather chose Qiaohuan (巧换）for me. "巧“means skillful and smart and "换“ means healthy and hopeful. They hoped I could be clever, healthy, and    have a good life.

          I like my name because it is the first present and it includes the best wishes from my parents.

Name as Responsibility

 ESL 100

Jiemin Zhang

September 11, 2023

Name as Responsibility

My name is Jiemin Zhang, My parents call me MinMin as 民民. This is the way of

writing in Chinese character. In addtion, my name menas quickness, agility and the 

Republic of The People. If people put them together, it is a wonderful and attractive 

name. My parents chose two words for me because in China, no one will call anyone by

their full name, unless the people is fimiliar with them.

My parents used to ask me what nickname I wanted when I was child. One day,

my parents saw our neighbor when they took me shopping. My neighbor asked

"what is your kid's name?" My parents answered him "it is MinMin." The neighbor 

asked again which tone? I responded to him. That is the second tone. In Mandarin 

Chinese, there are four tones. For example, the first tone is flat, the second tone is 

rising, the third tone is low, and the fourth tone is falling. I chose the second tone 

because it sounded like a man. For instance, the first tone and the third tone are 

ordinary and dry, so not many Chinese people will chose these two sounds. The 

majority of women would choose the fourth one, which is probably the traditional 

culture. That is why I chose the second tone for my name.

In my family's history, everyone's last name was Zhang. The younger generation of

our family always gathers on a special day. This is our traditional Chinses culture. On 

the day, we did a lot of things such as talk to each other, drink and eat. all my friends 

like calling me as Min(民), which is one word. It is also simple and esay to pronounce. I

really like the name because my parents chose it for me as a gift. The name also 

represents me, Jiemin.

Xiaomin Mei

ESL 100

August 31, 2023

Name as Hope

    I have a hopeful name. It represents my parents’ wish to me. My name in English is Xiaomin Mei, and it is from the pinyin pronunciation. In Chinese, my name is 梅晓敏. Mei is my family name, and I think it represents plum blossoms. I like my family name as I like plum blossoms that bloom beautifully even in the winter. Xiao means understanding everything. My younger brother and I both have this Chinese character in our name, and I think this means hope goes on. Min means thinking quickly. I like every meaning in my name, and I also like the origin of it. My father often tells me the story about the origin of my name. After I was born, my parents were very excited and busy looking for a hopeful name for me. My father brought several dictionaries to the hospital. My family looked for some Chinese characters which have good meaning in those dictionaries and wrote them down on the paper. After the discussion, they decided to tell these characters to a fortune teller. He chose two characters based on when I was born, and he told my parents that these two characters could help me to get a lot of good things in my life. As a result, my parents chose them in the end. I really appreciate that my parents gave me such a hopeful name because it is full of love. When people call my name, I always think this is the best name in the world.

Well Done

 Bienfait Ulumwene

Esl 100

Second draft

September 6, 2023

Well Done

I like it! It is something that represents people, and what people comprehend  about themselves. From the day I was born, my parents assigned this identifier to me. It is a French name that has a lot of different meanings and carries deep personal,  characteristics, cultural,  behaviors, and historical connections. I did not waste my time thinking about why I was given this name until I realized  the meaning of it.

Bienfait!... Yes…! That is my name. It means handsome, good job, well done, and well made; however, it is not a family name. I was given the name by my oldest cousin, Wape. She was twenty-six at the time I was born. Giving me this name was a sign of appreciation since my parents had taken care of her for a long time. My parents took her from her mother when she was seven years old in Burundi and moved with her to Tanzania, the country where I was born. My parents enrolled her in school and took care of her for everything until she got married at the age of 23. 

On Saturday morning in 2002, I was born. Suddenly, my cousin showed up while my grandparents and my father were asking themselves about what name to give me. “ I have got a name for him already,” she said. My grandfather asked her why she came up with this name. However, her response was  that she wanted to give me a gift, and the only gift she had was a name. “His parents had done a lot of good things for me such as treating her as their own child.”  when my grandfather was looking at her with a confused face, Wape added by saying the meaning of the name. Bienfait is  an expressive, optimistic, outgoing, and inspiring person. It is  the ability to persuade others effortlessly. “ les BIENFAIT n’est jamais perdu” she continued. means kindness is never lost. 

  That is how I got my name, and I am happy that I got that name. Some people get nicknames or change their name entirely after they are born. Therefore, I do not know if I will ever regret getting this name because I love it with all its meaning. Thanks to Wape!

Meaningful Name

        My name is Xueying Wu, and my friends and family always call me Xueying or Yingying. My father told me before I was born, he thought a lot about my name. Finally, he wished I could study hard, get good grades, and enjoy every day, so he picked a name to represent these ideas. On the other hand, my older brother's name is Xuerong, and my father also wanted me to have the same character as my older brother, so the family would be harmonious. Then my full name was born, which is the Chinese character 吴学莹. 学 means to study, and same as my older brother. 莹 means clear like jade that is cherished and loved by people. I like my name, which sounds wonderful and special. However, when I was a kid, I did not like people saying my full name. Sometimes, my friends made a joke about me and said that I did not study, because of my last name meaning.  吴 means without or lacking, and it expresses the negation of something. That seems a little strange. I came to Chicago one year ago, and I would like to have a meaningful English name. However, because of my hesitant personality, I have not picked an English name yet, but I will try to do it in the future. 

My name.

                                  My Name Means Hard Work And Honest

            In Chinese, there is an idiom that is JingJingYeYe (兢兢业业). It means hard work. When I was born, my family had been thinking about my name for a long time. In the end, My grandfather decided to name me Jingcheng (兢诚). In Chinese, cheng (诚) means to be honest to the others. My grandfather hopes me that can be a serious and responsible person at work and also an honest person. My whole family likes this name. However, because Jing (兢) is an unusual word in Chinese, some Chinese people don't know it. That is why when I make some new friends or classmates, they will ask me how to pronounce my name. Sometimes, teachers who taught me in China also didn't know it. They said it with the wrong pronunciation. It gave me some little difficulty. As these experience, when I make new friends again, I will tell them my name first so that avoid them to say the wrong pronunciation. Even though my nae has given me some problems, I don't dislike my name. I think my name is special in Chinese and I like my name.

Hope

A name means hope

Everyone is named by their parents or relatives when they are born, and each name has a different meaning. My name is Xiaohui Liao in Chinese. The first name is Xiaohui, which is “晓辉” in Chinese. The name’s radical is “日”and “光”, which is the sun and light in English. It is because of the sun that the world has light. In the past, people could not find the light at night when the sun set in the afternoon, but the ancient people would use some tools to produce light, like candle. This situation was still keeping until the invention of the electric lamp. It’s hard to imagine and describe the life without light.

Therefore, my grandmother named me as the symbolize of sun and light. She put the hope of life on me. She always says that “where there is light, there is hope”. She knew the importance of knowledge when she was young, so she hopes me not to give up anything, whether in my study or life.

My name carries my grandmother's hope for me and is also an inspiration to herself.

A Beautiful Jade

            My name is Yilu Li. Li is my family name. It is one of the common family names in China, but my first name is not a comma name in China. The character of my name is not used by many people. Usually, the Chinese parents giving names to their children also indicate their expectations for them. I like my name because it has a unique character in Chinese, and it has a good meaning. Yi is represented by-懿 in Chinese characters. It means beautiful. At the same time, it also means wealth, health, tranquility, and elegance, but it depends on the situation. In the ancient China, this character was mostly used in royal families to praise their own’ virtue and character. Until now, I have never met anyone that uses this character. When I was in primary school, even some of my teachers did not know how to pronounce it correctly. Lu is represented by-璐 in Chinese characters. It means jade, but when used in a name it means a pure and beautiful personality. My name is very meaningful, and it symbolizes a gentle character like beautiful jade. I did not inherit my name from my elders. Instead, Chinese people usually avoid having the same name as their elders because this is showing their respect for elders. My aunt gave this name to me because she is the first person in our family to go to college and the wisest person in our family, so my parents decided to give her this task. Obviously, she did a great job. I am proud of my name because it represents the elders’ wishes for my life.