Write Your Personal History: My Name
1. Write about your name. Where did it come from? What does it mean?
My birth name is Amanda Blair Caldwell, my married name is Lasen. Before I go into how I got my name, here's some basic information about my name.
Amanda (Latin): The Latin meaning of my name is something similar to "worthy of love" or "deserving to be loved." The name Amanda first appeared in a 1212 birth record from Warwickshire, England. In the US, Amanda began to gain popularity between the 1930s and 1970s, reaching number two most popular name in 1980. From the 1976 to 1995 Amanda was in the top 10 baby names.
Source: Wikipedia
Blair (Scottish Gaelic): Blair is usually a surname named for a number of places in Scotland. In Scottish Gaelic the word blàr means 'plain' or 'field'. In 2016 Blair was 521st most popular name in the US.
Source: Wikipedia
Caldwell: There's an extensive overview of the last name on the site Caldwell Genealogy. The popular opinion is that the name derives from Old English meaning "cold spring" or "cold stream." There's also a few locations in England and Scotland called 'Caldwell', so it's likely many Caldwells may have descended from those places.
Source: Ancestry
Caldwell, Derbyshire, England
Caldwell House, East Renfrewshire, Scotland
The Story of My Name
My mom has always preferred names that start with 'A', I'm not exactly sure why she liked the name Amanda, but she said people often said my name Amanda Blair sounded like a movie star or soap opera character (soaps were popular in the 80s). My mom came across my middle name Blair when they were living in Stone Mountain, Georgia and my dad had a friend/co-worker named Blair. I'm not named after him, per se, but my mom borrowed his name. Fun fact: my initials are ABC!
From what I understand, my dad preferred the name Christina Nicole (so 80s) and my paternal grandmother liked the name Clementine. Oddly enough, my husband wanted us to name our second daughter (if we had a girl instead of a boy) Clementine because he's always liked that name and prefers older names.
So, that's the story of my name, until next time.
