What’s in a name?
We use name as means to facilitate us in differentiating
people. But more than that, in my religious belief, name is filled with prayer
and expectation of traits, fortune and future depicted from its meaning. It’s a
wish, an identity.
My late grandfather was the one who came up with idea for my
name. Too bad, i never had a chance to ask where he got the idea from. My name
is quite rare used by people in common.
Where most vero ends with veronica or veronique, i’m
probably one of those rare people whose name veronia.
At first i hated it. Back then when i was a kid, my
schoolmates—mostly boys, had fun on my name by intentionally called me veron,
one of the popular footballers from italia. He was a good player but he was
bald and well, a boy. It wasn’t too bothersome at first but when it
continuously repeated, it started to feel annoying.
When i asked my parents about that name issue and the reason
why they named me that, they answered my elementary-school self with the line
“it was a gift from late grandpop, kiddo.” I was still curious but did not ask
for more. I tried to act indifferent to those funny remarks so the boys would
feel tired by themselves and stopped playing jokes. It worked.
My name sometimes be compared with one of the wives of a
well known dangdut singer in the country. Though the name was veronika, people
thought that my name was similar to that lady because my parents, or whoever
gave me the name, was fond of her. Never in my mind i think of being in the
same place as hers.
It was then when i was on 1st year of high school, my
biology teacher assigned us to make a writing about our name and how it related
to our roots. There was no explicit word in my name that was similar with my
family name. It was not that popular by the time i was born to put last name of
the father in the child’s name, especially in a rural area where i lived. So i
questioned my parents once again to help me for some information.
There, finally my parents said that there is indeed a
meaning within the name given to me.
Vero, in Latin, means great hero, or real, or true. While in
Old Greek it means bearer of the victory. While Nia, in Latin, means radiance
or brightness. Those are informations i retrieved from google.
But Father said that late grandpop explained vero in my name
meant something related with the first of sequence or the first of greatness,
inspired by the way ‘pharaoh’ spelled. I was surprised, and creeped out. How
could my late grandfather named his lovely granddaughter after a ruined dynasty
known for its immoral and corrupted powers.
But, perhaps, despite all those negative backgrounds glued
to my name, i believe there is good reason why my late grandfather came up with
the name. Aside of its weird root, there are good meanings within my name.
And there is nothing i would change from my name. It
represents me properly. It portrays a rarity, and a fragility hidden beneath
tough wall of a name they gave me, and also my identity of two families where i
come from.
I pray of being first radiant light of truth and greatness for my
family and people i love.
there, i told you what's in mine. so, what's in yours?
