Welcome to our series sharing Unique Holidays: March 2022: Celebrate Your Name Week – 1st full week of March. I don’t know about you but in my family, everyone is named after someone. Now, before you ask isn’t that fun. No, not when it’s your mom or dad because it can and does get confusing.
Namesake Day is March 1st
March 1 is Namesake Day, marking the beginning of a grander scope of celebration. The week of March 1-7 is International Celebrate Your Name Week, an occasion dedicated to honoring your name. Namesake Day is the start of this name-appreciation week, the day for you to learn more about your given name’s origin.
History of Namesake Day
International Celebrate Your Name Week is the creation of Onomatology hobbyist, Jerry Hill. As a child, he learned of another person with the name ‘Jerry Hill’ and became fixated on the idea of names. With no internet at the time, Hill took to the local library where he thumbed through phone books to explore the array of names at display.
Onotmatolgy, or Onomastics, is the study of the origin, history, and use of proper names. In 1997, Hill created Celebrate Your Name Week. The Holiday is about paying respect to and connecting with your name. A name is an identity.Your name is how the world comes to know you foremost. Jerry Hill hopes for CYNW to be a gateway to a deeper understanding of oneself.
How to Celebrate Namesake Day
To start, check in with your folks and ask them why they named you as they did. Are you named after one of your parents? Or a close or distant relative? A famous or historical figure perhaps? Or maybe they just liked the sound of the name they chose?
My dad: Gerald Ice Sr. named by his parents, Renee and Irene Ice. We do not know how they came up with the name.
My mom: Glenda Sue Ice and I was told after my Uncle Billy Glenn which I am not sure is correct. I can’t not ask if this is true because my mom and also my Grandparents Doris and Jack are gone.
Myself: At first, I was named No, name because my parents couldn’t come up with a name. Then they named me after themselves. Glenda for my mom. Lea for my dad except his is Lee.
My brother: Gerald Lee Ice Jr as you can tell after my dad.
My sister: Deborahe Kaye Ice and I have no, clue where they got this name from and as far as I know she isn’t named after anyone. Lucky Duck…
You might have thought it stopped here but no it didn’t it trickled down to Suzzane, Charlie and my nephew David.
Deborah Suzzane Ice: my daughter my dad picked out her name and to keep drama down I went with it although I had my own name picked out.
Suzzie is named after my Aunt Suzzane and my sister Deborah. Although my dad says Suzzane is spelled wrong and blames my mom, I actually chose the Spelling.
Charles Wayne Cates: I let David pick his name and David choose Charles after my Uncle Chuck and Wayne was after a friend of his from school and later on, we found out David’s Uncles name is Don Wayne, so David’s mom thinks he is named after his brother, and we aren’t saying anything. To keep drama down.
My nephew David Michael Torrence: Named after my cousin John Michael and Charles David Ice my Uncle.
That is my story and I’m sticking to it.
Now what is your story?
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
