My Name

I wrote this as an example assignment for my students this week, but I'm really quite fond of it. So I thought I'd post it here. Nothing enlightening or thought-provoking, just a little bit of me on paper!

My Name

My name is the sound of a girl in tattered jeans and a dirty shirt with scraped up knees running into her mother’s kitchen. My name is short and sweet like the dips of my fingers in the cookie batter. It is friendly and gentle. It is too young. It means pure, it means set apart. My name is the sound of a light tune being sung while you work.

I am named for Katherine Hepburn, an old actress my mother loved. She wasn’t beautiful or graceful, but she was classy and tough, just like me. My father made her promise I would be called Katie—a short, childlike name that I would want to shed as an adultlike child. But I’ve grown into the childishness of my name just like a teenage girl who finally grows into her nose.

My middle name, Suzanne, is my grandmother’s middle name. I like to think that I carry a piece of her feistiness with me. I know I carry her love for writing, reading and politics, but she had a wild card quality that I hope I embody. She used to sit and argue with my grandpa as they raced through an intense game of Dr. Mario on their Nintendo—I know I have that fierce competitiveness with my husband!

There have been moments when I wanted to shed my name, to find a name more unique like that of my sister. Everyone always remembered a Kevyn, but the taller girl standing next to her became “what was your name again?” I wanted a memorable name, one that meant something. But now my name does mean something—it means me. Katie Sue is the fun-loving, tender hearted, pure woman of her name. No other name will do!