What's in a Name?

Today, Sam and I went to a nearby discount store to get some toys for our flight back to the U.S. One of my friends here had the absolutely brilliant idea of giving each of her kids one, small wrapped present for each hour of their flight to the States. Seeing how the trip back to Chicago will be about 9 hours, I need to have some type of game plan, and this sounds great!

During checkout at the store, the employee began general chit-chat with me. She asked what my son's name was, and when I replied, "Sam," she looked somewhat perplexed. She tried to repeat his name, doing so incorrectly. I said it again and spelled it, although it didn't seem to ring a bell with her. Next, she inquired if we spoke English--and if we were British or American, so as to try to ascertain some type of meaning from his name.

This is the first time I can truly remember someone not having heard this name before--it's so common in English. It's crazy that his name was so foreign to her! It's such a familiar and dear word to me.

There are certain French names which perplex me, too. For example, the name "Michel", which is pronounced "Mee-shell," sounds feminine to an English speaker. But this is a masculine name.

Even my name is sometimes difficult for French speakers. When it's written, it looks a lot like the French phrase "I like."

It's definitely fascinating for me to think about how much names can be linked to a culture...an ethnicity...a nationality. There's more meaning behind the names we were given...much more than I realized.