Looking back it is as though I just woke up a certain age having been a spectator of my life since I can remember! I was born Donna-ray age white. From my name there is confusion I’m unsure if the ray should be in capital letters or in smalls??And it’s my name wow! Then my parent’s miss spelt my second name, I only discovered this when I was 10 years old.
I had just got my first passport, we were driving off from the passport office and my grand mother asked me to check that there are no errors so I scream stop they made a mistake! They wrote age twice let’s get it fixed. My granny says where let me see, then she hands me back the passport and she is like oh that’s your second name!!
I remember being crushed, how could they make an error in my name that is my identity, was it not something they thought of in depth, did they not think which spellings they wanted it’s my name on my birth
certificate a little attention to detail couldn't have hurt. As I write this, the scene plays in my head like it was yesterday. I was like how is that my second name what happened its meaning less? She gave me a story about how my mum and dad made a mistake.
I cannot remember her story but I didn't buy what she was selling i was livid and crushed! I did get over it thankfully, it turned out my second name is supposed to be Agnes after my grandmother and I would be so proud but because of the story behind it to a certain extent I feel that maybe I don’t deserve the name. On the other hand, i am proudly my grandmothers child and the goodness in me is a reflection of her greatness living in me.
I had just got my first passport, we were driving off from the passport office and my grand mother asked me to check that there are no errors so I scream stop they made a mistake! They wrote age twice let’s get it fixed. My granny says where let me see, then she hands me back the passport and she is like oh that’s your second name!!
I remember being crushed, how could they make an error in my name that is my identity, was it not something they thought of in depth, did they not think which spellings they wanted it’s my name on my birth
certificate a little attention to detail couldn't have hurt. As I write this, the scene plays in my head like it was yesterday. I was like how is that my second name what happened its meaning less? She gave me a story about how my mum and dad made a mistake.
I cannot remember her story but I didn't buy what she was selling i was livid and crushed! I did get over it thankfully, it turned out my second name is supposed to be Agnes after my grandmother and I would be so proud but because of the story behind it to a certain extent I feel that maybe I don’t deserve the name. On the other hand, i am proudly my grandmothers child and the goodness in me is a reflection of her greatness living in me.
Having been born of the same parents a number of years before your coming I have the advantage of knowing them better!! First off the words ''ATTENTION'' and ''DETAIL'' did not exist in their vocabs, hope thats a comfort to know. Secondly if you look too deep into things you will find the things you dread to find - Personally I would comfort myself by thinking dad having some Portuguese in his geneology put the Donna-Ray there to be translated as Miss Ray and the Age i've always told you to pronounce it in french Age' it sounds alot better than age. Self Esteem is jus that Esteeming yourself how you read and translate -see yourself not how your parents or peers read you. So U should place the meaning on your name and hold THAT meaning up not what someone else meant it to be....they don't hv the privelge of making U only jus naming U and even if they did name you something like 'Nhamo' its up to you to give that name a new meaning, a new definition!!
ReplyDeleteComparing my name with yours.. at least you know you actually had mom & dad's input and brain function involved I didnt get that - My name was given because of the day I decided to pop out on and the Doctor rushed thru the delivery complaining/replaying the whole time abt how he was taken away from his tv while watching the biggest Royal Wedding of the 80s Di & Charles, so when the Doc was done he says ''Congratulations, Its a girl u better name her - Diana!!'' And the rest is history...what I've taken away from that is to thank God I was a girl imagine if I was a boy - I'd've been Charles...now how un-attractive is that!!
I am pleased to say that my self esteem was not affected by this but im lucky anyone else would have not been so lucky!i think more thought and detail needs to go into a child's name and that will only happen when people realize that parenting is a God given responsibility and should be treated as such.
ReplyDeleteDee....your're hilarious!!! LOL!! But its true what you say...they did have good intentions when naming Donna...here's a good...uncle Chico's is one of 8 kids...most if not all of them have something wrong on their birth certs! His birthday was 24.7.1970 but was put down as 25th. Every single official document has the wrong D.O.B on it!! But he still stubbornly celebrates his birthday as the 24th...I have sometimes wondered over the years why doesn't he just give up and accept the 25th as his birthday and just forget the 24th....the answer I think is this....the 24th IS his birthday...doesn't matter what the papers say!!! YOU ARE Donna-Ray AGNES to me coz that's what they INTENDED to call you. And you are fully deserving of the name - don't be held hostage by a daft mistake on a piece of paper...you know who you are...take the name and own it!!and Diana,I think you dodged a bullet there....I mean Charles....really!!!LOL!! Diana is certainly much better!! It means goddess of the moon...I guess they didn't know the meaning at the time of naming you but you have grown into what your name means...beautiful, strong and unique!
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