My Name

My parents named me Krista Marie. They almost named me Jennifer. Jennifer isn't a bad name but leads to nicknames. One reason I know my parents didn't choose Jennifer was because my mom didn't want me to be called Jen. Then, my mom liked Victoria, but the same thing: she didn't want people to call me Vicki, she wanted me to be called the name she chose. Most people don't shorten Krista. It's short, simple, and easy to learn how to write. So, my name is Krista. It became interesting when I started school. There were two other Krista's in my grade and in third grade, we all ended up in the same class. One was spelled Krysta and then myself and the other were spelled the same: Krista. So, we had to do something. We had to have a distinction between the three of us. Krysta became Krysta with a y. Why people were willing to say that and not say Krista R. and Krista S. I do now know. So one of us had to have a nick name. one of us was about to become Kris. As much as my mom didn't like nicknames, I now had one. I can't say that I remember much about how I felt when it happened but I do remember in 5th grade trying to get people to go back to Krista. Thankfully, I haven't been called Kris since, thankfully.

My middle name is Marie. It seems like a pretty common middle name. It is one of the first guesses people have when trying to figure out someone's name. Except mine has more meaning than just another middle name. My middle name was passed down to me through my dad's side of my family. Marie is the name of my ancestor that brought my dad's side of the family from Italy to the United States. I love how my middle name has meaning behind it.

I lived in the Dominican Republic for three months as an alternative to SST. My time there was the time of my life. My name there was different than it is here. I said my name was Krista. However, when you look at my name and are thinking in Spanish, the pronunciation is a bit different. The "i" turns into a long "e" sound. My name in the Dominican Republic became Kristal. I am not sure how the "l" got added on the end but as I got introduced people started putting an "l" on the end. Maybe it is a more common name or maybe it is easier to say. But that became my name. My favorite part of my name changing: my 4 year old host brother, Luis, was always very excited to see me when I got home. I think that excitement came from the fact that I played with him and his cars, and always let it go the way he wanted. However, when he said my name, he accented the "i" and made it an extra 2 syllables and slightly louder and higher pitched. I could hear and see the excitement every time I saw him. Every once in a while, my dad will say my name like Luis. It makes me miss my Dominican family.

The different pronunciations and different nicknames tell me what part of my life people are from. It is fun to remember the differences in my name and remember times, especially my time in the Dominican Republic, that are near and dear to my heart.