What's in a Name????

Many years ago, when I was born, right in the heart of middle Tennessee, the name Teresa was not a common name.  Allow me to explain.  You see, Teresa is historically and dominantly a Spanish and/or Catholic derived name.  And in rural Tennessee, forty plus years ago, there was no Hispanic population, and in my small home town, there was no Catholic church.  So needless to say, the name "Teresa" was not a word often heard!

My dear grandfather, a typical rural farmer, had certainly never heard this name, so when I was born, he resorted to writing my name on a slip of paper and storing it in his wallet.  When he wanted to boast about his new granddaughter or someone asked the baby's name, he would pull out his "note" with my name on it, as a reminder!!

There weren't many of us "Teresas" in my small hometown, as a growing child.  So naturally, when my name was mentioned anywhere (good or bad), most knew exactly who was being discussed!  And another frustrating Teresa point:  you know how children love to find novelty items with their name emblazoned across the item.... keychains, stickers, bicycle tags, etc....  Of course, I was the disadvantaged child who NEVER found my name imprinted on anything!  OR..... if I was fortuitous enough to find something, it inevitably would be spelled wrong, such as "Theresa" (this warrants a completely different post, to be continued; after all, who ever heard of a name like Teresa with an h.... silent or not!).  Thank goodness for today's technology that allows almost instantaneous printed everything!!

For the first two weeks of my infant life, my parents consequently decided to call me "Terry".  But somehow, Terry just didn't fit their firstborn, so back to "Teresa" they went.  Thank you, Mom and Dad, as I have never pictured myself as Terry (no offense to the many wonderful Terrys out there!).  

Ironically, a wonderful lady at my church is known to all as Terry.  When discussing names in our Sunday School class one Sunday, she divulged that her name is actually Teresa, but somehow the name didn't "fit" her as a baby.  How very ironic to hear the same, exact story, but in reverse!!  Perhaps our fitting name is indeed given to us for more reasons that to satisfy the new, doting parents.

Many years later, as a college graduate and young adult, I began dating a young man (who later became my husband), who had grown up as a Baptist MK (missionary kid) on the border of Brazil and Uruguay (Portuguese and Spanish speaking cultures, respectively).  With both languages being rooted in the Romance languages, I quickly found out that "Teresa" is a very common name in both countries.

As the relationship progressed, I also found out that his missionary parents had founded a church and named it Santa Teresa (long before I entered their lives, so I can't take credit for this one).  Of course, the standard joke that evolved hinted that his only motive in dating me was because of his parents' church name.

Little did I know that I would eventually marry this man, so the joke also evolved over time, hinting that his primary motive for marrying me was...... you guessed it, because of his parents' church name.  Of course, my many visits to South America which followed thus resulted in me being very favored (yep, it was my name), and of course, nobody had difficulty pronouncing this gringa's name!!  At last, I fit in!!  :)

Now there is urbandictionary.com.  The FaceBook trend encourages all of us to find our name on urbandictionary.com and post the definition.  Well, folks, I don't know about you, but I was offended by my name's definition!  I definitely didn't read anything about a Catholic saint on that site!!  Needless to say, this Teresa was somewhat offended by the "urban" definitions of her name, and won't be commenting or elaborating any further from that site! (Maybe your name has better connotations there, but let the reader beware).

Therefore, my public plea, via this blog, is to call out to the many, wonderful women across the world, who are fortunate enough to have been blessed with this name or one of the many versions....Terese, Treese, Tressa, Teressa, and yes, also the Theresa and Therese' as well!

Post something here about your name or yourself, or about a Teresa who is special to you.  We are all special; maybe we should form a bond between us all..... Teresas of the World, Unite!!!

Blessings to all,

Teresa Braswell Robinson