Sunday, April 28, 2013

Some incoherent but true thoughts on my name...

Clare.

I was just thinking about how much I like my name. Which has very little with anything anyone else has ever told me about my name. One of the only comments I can recall ever hearing regarding my name was:

"You have such a GIRLY name!" 

(The girl who told me that is named 'Alexa' and I really don't see how that is a LESS girly name, but okay.)

But I was thinking about how few book or movie characters are ever named Clare. Which is a real shame, because my name is really awesome. The only movie I can think of with a character named Clare is Alvin and the Chipmunks (Woo hoo. Great.), and I honestly don't know that I've ever read a book where a major character was named Clare. I wonder why. It seems like we have no end of characters named Anna, Margaret, or Catherine. (I have sisters by all three of those names, by the way!)

I admit I used to dislike my name. When I was trying DESPERATELY to fit in with a bunch of girls who weren't all that nice OR special, I hated my name for several reasons:

1. Clare has no nicknames that come directly from the name. Unless we want to get REALLY creative. But aside from Clare Bear...yeah. Even the name Anna has nicknames: Annie, Anne, Anna Banana.

2. My parents did not choose the French spelling of the name, so there's no 'i' in my name. I literally begged my mom to let me spell my name Claire. The reason for that, embarrassingly, was because I wanted to be able to dot the 'i' with a heart. I'm ashamed of my younger self.

3. At the time, I firmly believed my name was boring. No one else was named Clare, and if they were, they spelled it the 'cool' way. Clare. Blah. How BORRRRING.

But, hey, I was kind of stuck with the name because a twelve year old has no legal rights with which to change their name. And what do you know? I GOT OVER IT!

No kidding.

Recently, I've kind of fallen in love with my name. If you ever say a word over and over and over, it starts to sound really foreign and you even wonder, "Am I even saying this correctly!?" I've done that with my name before. It goes something like:

Clare
Clare
Clare
Clare
Clare
Clare
Clare
Clare
clare
Cla--
Clare?
Clare....
Clareas
Clare
Clafjareokgkk;glll.....

Or if you say "CLARE" really slowly and pronounce that L as hard as you can, my name starts to sound very French.

We don't think about our names very often; we take them for granted. But they make a huge impact in the world. If you know someone's name, you have the power to address them, acknowledge them, and ultimately get to know them.

I think Clare is a beautiful name. I think it sounds elegant and dignified. From a very young age, I've known that my name means bright, clear, or famous. BRIGHT is the word most commonly associated with it. I love that. I have always loved that my name meant, basically, the opposite of 'dark'.

I was named after St. Clare of Assisi. In St. Clare's native tongue (Italian), the name is Chiara (KEY-ARE-UH). St. Clare is well-known and well-loved throughout the world because she loved God enough to give up everything for Him. I love being named after St. Clare. She's such a beautiful example of how to love and give heroically.

Names are important. I'm very grateful to my parents for giving me such a lovely and meaningful name. There's nothing better than when I hear someone say my name with respect or affection, "Clare,"


Me: Looking strange and unrecognizable due to hair being abnormally fabulous one day.


4 comments:

  1. lol totally love this. My sister spells her name "Claire" sometimes. It is a beautiful name ::)

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  2. My real name is as white as my complexion. Now whenever I talk to myself I'll have to enthuse in my head because it's some-what Italian! xD This post is very true. I've personally never thought that your legal name HAS to be the name you're meant to have, contrary to popular belief. LOOK AT ME, NAMING MYSELF!

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