yahtzee yahtzee bo-bahtzee...

yahtzee63's name meme:

do you like your name?
Yes. I didn't when I was a pre-teen, but I do now and have for some time.

What do you like best about it?
It's strong, and there's a study out there somewhere on people's initial reaction to names which said that people react to my name by thinking of someone striking and intelligent. That may have changed as the name became more and more popular and common.

What do you like least about it?
The diminuitives "Jess" and "Jessie". I actually flinch when people call me these, for several reasons, not the least of which is the presumption on their part that they have the right to call me something other than my name. It's false intimacy.

If you HAD to change your name (witness protection program, whatever), what would you want it to be?

I have no idea. Maybe something entirely foreign so as to distance myself completely from my current identity.

The Name Game

The other meme:

What does your first name mean?

Variously, "The Grace of God", "God beholds," or "woman of wealth."

What does your middle name mean?

I have no middle name.

What does your last name mean?

"Promontory", "woody meadowland", or "of the headland".

So what does your name mean when put together?

"Only God Knows Why Florida Exists", "The Lord Enjoys Watching The Giants and Bruce Springsteen", or "Hey You Peasant -- Get The Hell Off My Property."

What would you have been named if you were the opposite gender?

Philip or Ian.

Any other name oddities?

The last name is a mutation of a mutation of a mutation of a name that was chosen at Ellis Island which bears no resemblance to the original last name. My lj name is the transliteration of the modern Hebrew of the Biblical "Iscah", which over the years has become Zikkah, ot Tzikeh, or whatever transliteration you prefer. The first actual use of the "Jessica" form is Shakespeare's, who most likely created it from Iscah/Zikkah. So I like to trace my name back to him, rather than to the Bible.

When I was born in 1969, Jessica wasn't even in the top 100 girls' names. It is currently in the top ten. As usual, I set the trends. ::buffs nails::