andreahuber
The question of “What’s in a name?” has been around since the Shakespearean days. Names, and more specifically middle names, can have more meaning than expected. According to ancestry.com, 55 percent of Americans’ middle names are commemorative of a loved one, while 15 percent have run in the family for generations.
Elizabeth, Marie, Ann, Rose, Catherine, and Grace top the charts for female middle names, but what about those not-so-common
middle names? Significant meanings, unique symbolism, and even famous people have influenced the middle names of Marian girls.
While many are named after a grandmother or aunt, freshman Nisrine Balash Bango has a more unique name–she is named after her dad. “[My parents] told me my middle name was my dad’s, but that’s all I know about it. I don’t really think anything of it besides the fact that it is unique,” Bango said.
Senior Kierstyn Marley Davies sports a middle name with a little more fame. Bob Marley was a favorite musician of her parents, and this was their inspiration when naming their daughter. “My dad in high school really liked Bob Marley and really wanted my first name to be Marley but settled for my middle name,” Davies said. However, she has a different opinion on the singer than her parents. “I have never listened to Bob Marley, nor do I know much about him … I didn’t like [my middle name] at first, but now I like it,” Davies said.
Freshman Sophia Marae Moes’s middle name is a combination of both her mom’s and dad’s middle names. “My mom’s middle name is Marie, and my dad’s is Ray, so they combined them to make Marae. I love the fact that I have a middle name that is very original,” Moes said.
Middle names can carry much more significance, however. For junior Maria Gerilyn Gallegos and freshman Macy Gerilyn Salerno, their middle names commemorate someone dear to their hearts.
They were named after the same person, Gerilyn Salerno ’81, who died of breast cancer before the girls were born.
Gerilyn was Macy Salerno’s aunt and Gallegos’s mother’s friend when they attended Marian together.
Salerno really appreciates the fact that she was named in honor of her late aunt. “When I was younger, a lot of people thought [my middle name] was really weird, and so did I, but now I’m so happy that I have a name that means something to me, and I love it,” Salerno said.
Gallegos, too, feels very fortunate to be named after a significant person in her mother’s life. “I think it is a really nice way for my mom to remember her friend, and I feel lucky that my mom decided to use this name,” Gallegos said. “My mom would tell me fun things she and Gerilyn liked to do in high school, and it is really cool to hear about the person I was named after.”
Middle names can be fun, symbolic, and commemorative. Even the sim- plest of names can have significance. Whether it’s a queen’s, a reggae singer’s, or a great grandmother’s name, all middle names prove meaningful in some way or another.
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