Ireland?  James Joyce?  What does that have to do with anything?  Plenty.  My name, Gabriel.

To my mom, Gabriel was a perfect name because it made her think of James Joyce and Ireland. (My name was in a James Joyce short story named, "The Dead.")

At the age of seven I didn’t like the name.  It was too unusual. I wanted the name Jason.  Now I like the name.  I’ve become more used to it.  I like it even more now because it means God’s strength. (Hebrew)  But it never was popular and it probably never will be.
 

Kalya is my name because my father got my name out of a baby book.

A long time ago no one knew about the name Kayla.  In 1983 it just appeared out of nowhere.  In Yiddish my name is spelled Kaila.

My mom told me that my name means Crown of Gold.  My full name is Arielle Kayla.  When my mom looked at me for the first she knew that people would call me Kayla.

I don’t like people to call me Arielle because some people tease me and I don’t like it.  But I like it when people don’t tease me.  

I think my name is beautiful!

My name in Hebrew means God will increase. In the Bible, Joseph is the son of Jacob.

I think my name feels like the color blue.  My name also feels like the #10.  I don’t know why.  I really like my nickname, Joe.  I like it more than Joseph, but I like to be called Joseph and Joe the same.  To me my name feels like it has three letters, but it really has six.  

I reeeeeeeally like my name JOSEPH!

But anyway, before that, my parents thought I was going to be a boy. Their name choices for me were Raymond, because it’s the male version for Rae, or Buster, after my dad’s favorite movie actor. Sometimes I wonder,  what if my name was really Buster? 

I’ve looked in many books and my name means;
‘Naive and gentle like a lamb’
‘Beautiful and well flavored’
‘A symbol of gentleness and innocence’

I really like my name and wouldn’t change it.
 

The name Claire comes form the Latin language.  Clarea is the feminine of Claris which means bright, clear, or famous.  

A lot of people call me Clara which is the Italian version of my name.  My name is spelled the French way.

My mom said if I had been a boy she would have had no idea what to name me.

Maximilan?  Maxwell?  Maxi?  I just hate it when people ask, "Is your name just Max or Maximilian?" Sometimes I wish my name was Maxwell or something like that so people wouldn’t ask me the question all the time.

My name is common, but uncommon.  I meet so many people named Max, but they turn out to be named Maxi, Maximilian, or something like that.

My name was in the newspaper years before I was born.  One day my father was the best man at his friend’s wedding. His friends owns a publishing company in Germany. Because of that the wedding was in the newspaper.  The reporter got his facts wrong and wrote, "Max de La Bruyere" instead of "Marc de la Bruyere."  My parents realized they liked the name Max and that it worked in French and English, which it had to because my father is French.  My name also had to be short because my last name is so long.  It is also hard to misspell my name because I don’t think anyone would spell it "Macks" which would be "Mac" plural.

Max means the greatest and I’m very glad it does.  It can also be short for maximum which means the most.  I think any name that means the most and the great is a terrific name.
 

This, what you just heard, is my name in all different phrases that I hear every morning.  I go that name from being a girl, having my sister’s best friend’s sister, and because I have a "j" sound tradition in my family.

First, I would like to tell you about all of the choices my parents would have chosen for my name.  They were Joslin, Jaclyn, Jillian, or Jill.  Even though Jessica was not on the list they chose Jessica because it has a j sound and because I was a girl and to have the same initials as my mom and sister (JBH).  They also chose Jessica because my sister had a friend who’s sister’s name was Jessica and my sister really liked her.  They did not have any choices for a boy’s name, so they were lucky (I  turned out to be a girl.)  My name is the second most common name for girls in America.  But I don’t feel it is so common.

I like my nickname, Jessie a lot better. If I was a boy, I would probably have that name.  I like how Jessie sounds, but not Jessica.  I think it is a happy name. I like my name. I think it is okay.  But all I can tell you is that it is my name.

My full first name is Samuel, but I prefer Sam.  The only thing is, I think Sam sounds a little plain.  I don’t like Samuel so I keep it at Sam.

Samuel is Hebrew. It means "heard by God."  Samuel is a very popular name. Before the American settlement, Samuel had already become a common name in England.

My parents didn’t know whether I was going to be male or female. If I was female, my mom wanted my name to be Ester after her great aunt.  My dad didn’t like it very much.  My middle name is Lucas.

They chose Samuel after my dad’s father whom I never met because he died when my dad was thirteen.  They picked Lucas because they liked it.  My last name is Russian.  Overall, I think Samuel Lucas is a pretty good name.

The name Molly is an Irish name.  It means, "wished for a child."  Molly is a name with a lot of strength and spirit.  Also there is a quote by William Allington that says, "wherever there is a Molly there is sunshine and flowers at every season."

There have been many famous people with the name Molly such as the unsinkable Molly Brown who was on the Titanic.  She survived the sinking ship.  She was very rich.  But she didn’t become rich from a great uncle or something. She became rich by herself which shows that Molly Brown had strength and spirit just like the name.

If there would be music for my name there would be several instruments, but it would be pretty quiet.

My parents have always liked the name Molly.  There is no special reason they named me Molly. I like the name too.

My parents named me on the my last day in the hospital when I was born. They named me Christopher.  The name is Greek.  In English it means, "the one who carries Christ in his heart."  My parents each have their own stories about my name.  My dad says that they didn’t like any of the names from the baby books that they looked in.  But  my mom says they both liked Christopher.  I think that they are both right.  The reason I think that my parents are both right is because my mom is the "matriarch" and what she says goes.  I bet she just went right up to the nurse and said, "His name is Christopher" and then it was.  Christopher reminds me of rap and bright yellow. I like my name.

My name is Happy. I was born in 1990, four years after my sister was born.  My name means cheerful and lighthearted.  It was a common name in the 19th century, but Felicity or Hilary are now more likely to be used.  Sometimes Happy occurs as a nickname because otherwise nobody usually has it as their first name.  Otherwise I’m fine with it because it makes me feel good inside.
 

I’ve not always liked my name.  I thought it was slow, bulky and not fun to say.

My mom and dad named me Jeremy because my paternal grandfather was named Jack and he had died recently.  My parents didn’t prefer the name Jack, but the wanted a name with a J.

In Hebrew Jeremy is Jeremiah and it means, "appointed by the Lord."  In Dutch it is Jertemias.  In Spanish it is Jereme.

The Jeremy got popular in the 70’s after the Robert Redford film "Jeremiah Johnson."

One day when my mom was pregnant she was watching the news and she heard that Billy Joel just had a daughter named Alexa and she really, really loved that name.

My name is Greek and means a helper or defender.  I’m a helper, but I’m not really a defender.  Alexa is female for Alexander and was most popular in the 90’s.

When I was three I hated my name because it’s uncommon.  Everyone has trouble spelling it. People ask me if I spell it with an I or an E, but I spell it with an A, and it’s really annoying.  If I was a boy I would be named Taylor which is my middle name.

To this day I could never think of a name I would rather have than Alexa.

I think that Jared is an unusual name. Jared is a British name.  In Hebrew it means descendent.  Laser is my Hebrew middle name.  I was named for my paternal great grandmother Leah. Laser is the male version of Leah.  You can find my name in 5:15 of the Old Testament.  I hate it when people call me Brent because it is my brother’s name. I don’t look anything like him at all. I just don’t get it.

My friends call me J.P.  I think my name is OK. I don’t love it and I don’t hate it. It’s just somewhere in the middle.

I love my name and wouldn’t change it for the world.  I used to be called Genny, but in first grade I decided that I wanted to be called…well let’s see if you can figure it out.

When I was born my mom and dad named me Serena (because my mom loved that name), Delphine (after a French actress named Dephine Seyrig).  After one day my parents decided that I was not a Serena Delphine so they changed it to Jennifer.  Then when I was three months old my mom called my dad and said, "Every time I open the Lillian Vernon catalogue I see Jennifer on the towels they’re selling.  We have to change her name."  
My sister (who was four at the time) overheard the conversation and said, "Mommy, take my middle name. I will never use it."  And that was perfect for me.  It was great because my mom wanted to name me after her grandfather’s mother, Jenny.  It was original and fit me perfectly.

In German it means, "pure white."  In French it means, "while wave."  It was also the name of the patron saint of Paris who saved her city.  Variations of my name are: Jenny, Gen, Jeniffer, and Jenna.

So… from all my clues, can you guess my name?  

Well here it is, plain and simple:
 

GENEVIEVE!

My mom told me I was named at birth.  My dad had a friend at work named Spencer so my parents named me Spencer.  My grandma was helping my mom take care of me and my sister because she was only one year.  After three days my grandma told my mom that she could not call me Spencer and my said, "You’re right."  They went to my dad and told him that they didn’t like the name. My dad said, "You’re right." And so they named me my dad’s middle name, Peter.  They made my middle name Spencer.  My mom said they should have named me Dan Peter, my dad’s name, but they didn’t.

I like the name Peter and I think it is very popular.

Hi, my name is Lily and I am going to tell you a bit about my name.

It comes from the name Elizabeth and that name comes from the Latin.  Lily was a very uncommon name,, but it began to be popular because of the Jersey-born actress, Lillie, in the 1850s. The name became most popular in England after that.

My parents named me after a TV program. I don’t have a nickname, but I want one and I don’t have any background on it.

When I was about six years old I found Lily hard to say.  Lily can be spelled many different ways: Lily, Lilly, Lili, Lillie, and a lot more ways.

Hi.  My name is Melissa and that’s what I’m going to tell you about, my name.  

When my mom was in school there was a girl named Melissa Salzman in her class.  She was smart, beautiful, kind, and funny.  Many years later when they graduated she opened the biggest homeless shelter in the world!

When my mom and dad were discussing names of for "the baby" my mom said, "What about Melissa?"  My dad thought it was a beautiful name and that is how they picked it.

In Greek my name means bee. It means that I am energetic and a hard worker.  Do you want to hear something really cool?  My name has 14 letters (first and last) and my birthday is the 14th!  You know what else I like about my name?  There’s  song called "Sweet Melissa" which is by the Allman Brothers.  

That’s it. I hope you liked hearing about my name.