Introducing Me

             When it comes to origin stories, my names’ is pretty pathetic. My parents each chose one name they liked and mashed them together to give me Charlotte Elizabeth. Luckily for me, this turned out in my favor. Had my mom gotten her way I would’ve been Veronica Douglas (I could work with Veronica, Douglas would’ve needed some work though). Despite my contentment with my name, it hasn’t always been easy to appreciate it.

It is a title that is exceptionally ordinary. Each part of my name most likely appears familiar to you. Charlotte and Elizabeth are both prominent royal names in the French and English lines and both pop up multiple times in your history textbooks. In fact, the granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, may she rest in peace, has the same first two names in her own long list of titles, Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Wales. Furthermore, I can't even catch a break with my last name as there are at least two more families in Troy with the same pronunciation - and no - we’re not related.

So how, with this list of commonalities, was I supposed to make this name my own? 

Even though it has been claimed by many others, I’ve always known that it was mine in the ways that matter. It was the name they announced after all my achievements. It’s been called by friends, siblings, teammates, and parents. It’s been the phrase I anxiously awaited during roll call for almost 12 years. It’s marked me on tests, projects, and essays. My name has been with me for 17 years through scolding and praise, thick and thin. And as long as it has been defining me, I've been defining it. Though it began as a random mashing of two popular names, through my every action and word it has been cultivated into the identifier it is today. In truth, our names have no real meaning but the one we assign to them. It doesn't matter how many other Charlotte Elizabeths there are in the world because none of them assign quite the same meaning to the label that I do.