YAYA
My name is Danielle. I’ve had that name since
birth and I’ve always had a pretty good relationship with it. My family has a
tradition of using the mom’s middle name as the first-born daughter’s name,
usually with a different spelling. For example, my grandma's middle name is
Rise and my mom's name is Reesa (they are pronounced the same). My mom's
middle name is Danyel and mine is Danielle (again, pronounced the same). So, I
guess, it’s really the grandparents that name the baby. Anyhow, I like my name
because it is unique, but not too unique. My name isn’t as common as Emma or
Mary or Katherine, but it is still common enough to find on a keychain at a
souvenir shop. Sometimes I do wish that it had a special meaning to the family,
but it was really picked because it sounded good.
At
a younger age, I kind of felt that my name was too masculine, probably because
it was too similar to the name Daniel. Just two letters didn’t make it feel
that different. Sometimes kids would want to get under my skin and call me Dan
or Daniel or even Daniel. I would throw a tantrum, which sort of encouraged the
behavior. Then I would go home and think of my favorite names. Jessica and
Shelly were always my favorites but now I could never see myself being named
either one. But as time went on and kids matured, I was called Daniel less and
less and I slowly began to like my name. As I got older, I also met more
Danielle’s and I still get a kick out of meeting someone with the same name.
When
I was young, very young, I couldn’t quite pronounce my name right. There were
just too many letters and different sounds, so I simplified it to Yaya.
Everyone went along with it. My parents even bought this sign that had big
white wooden letters reading “YAYA” and hung it on my wall. I have no clue why
they supported that phase. I know now that I must have looked goofy introducing
myself as Yaya. As for my current nickname, I didn’t come up with that. I had
always been called Dani by a select few, but once I came to Uni, one of the
teachers started calling me Dani and it stuck. Eventually, that’s what I
started introducing myself as and I think it suits me more. Danielle seemed too
formal for me. In my opinion, Dani fits my goofy, funny, and wild personality
way more.
Dani
has become my new name. It takes me a second to process that when people say
Danielle, they’re talking to me. However, since my nickname came so late, many
people still address me as Danielle. I feel I still respond quickly to them
because they have been calling me by my full name for a long time, but if a
person I just met calls me Danielle I might not respond right away because all
the newer people in my life know me as Dani. Even when I was in the newspaper
for a sport’s thing, my name was Dani. And again, I grew to love the nickname
and would rather be called by my nickname. Although my full name has special
meaning, this name just fit’s me more. Plus it’s close enough to my real name
that’s special to the family so it doesn’t lose its value.
omg Dani this is so interesting. I love how your grandparents basically named you! Thats such a cool tradition!!!
ReplyDeleteI've known you from before as Danielle and now as Dani and I agree, I feel like Dani suits your personality more. Maybe its the shortness of it that or the continuous "e" sound at the end that makes it easier to yell/joke with. Also, I had no idea that the oldest girl takes the middle name of her mom - that's so interesting; it's your own name but having part of it from your mom.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about the grandparents naming you is interesting to me. I feel like, if you think about it, nobody in your family will necessarily be named a "new" name because it was picked two generations ago you know? Also I liked the part about how you named yourself Yaya as a small person I think that's cute.
ReplyDeleteI relate to your post a lot. My siblings and I all have long names because my parents just wanted to counter our short last name. I've always called my brothers Bill and Jerry (from William and Gerald). Yet, I was just called Christina most of the time. Tina was a nickname that was usually used by my relatives or my parent's friends since they struggled to pronounce "Chris." Then, I came to Uni and started playing sports and also had Kristine in the same class. I've basically adopted Tina as my name and it sometimes even weirds me out when someone switches back to calling Christina.
ReplyDeleteI think Uni is a breeding ground for nicknames. Nevertheless, I also believe Dani suits you really well. It's short, direct, and fun.
I relate to the last paragraph a lot. I've gone by Katie for so long that when people call me "Katherine" I sometimes don't even realize that they're referring to me. I think Dani fits you really well, and I like that Danielle has significance in your family. However, if you wanted to start introducing yourself as Yaya again, I would support you and I think it could honestly be a great move.
ReplyDeleteIt was so cool hearing how you adopted your name to fit your personalty. My sister went through the same phase of going by Yaya, and wondered why she did it. I'm really glad you were able to express yourself through your name and find something that suits you
ReplyDeleteI relate to the last paragraph. My name is short for Alexandra, but no one calls me that/ I would be taken aback if someone called me that since I've gone by Lexy since I can remember.
ReplyDeleteAnd I still call you Danielle sometimes and I realized I'm the only one who does this lol. But I think Dani does suit you better than Danielle.