I was given the name Oriana Pantoja. My first name means "Golden Girl" in Italian, and in Japanese it means "sunrise". My mom was the parent that chose my first name before I was born. She chose it because it was the name of a famous Italian journalist, Oriana Fallaci. She told me that when she read one of Fallaci's books called "One Man", she fell in love with the story and the image of a strong woman that Fallaci portrayed. Mommy always wanted me to grow up into a strong and independent woman like Oriana, therefore gave me her name. My father told me that my name was also in the book "Don Quijote", which is an important book in the Spanish literature. I guess I was always proud of my name and never really thought of changing it.
However, I did always want a middle name and when I asked my mother why she didn't give me one, she said it was because she didn't want to complicate my life. It's funny if you ask me. I always wanted my mother's middle name which is Luna, meaning "moon". That might be the only change I might make. I don't think I would have had given myself the same name, maybe because I didn't know the writer or read the novel Don Quijote. In all my life still today, I haven't met anyone in person with my name. Once or twice someone has commented that they had met one other or something along those lines. It makes me feel unique.
I love my name and it is part of who I am. As I grew up my aunt Melissa used to call me her Golden Girl (aka GG) but I never really knew why until my parents told me what my name meant and then made the connection. I still have an old bookmark that I wade with her when she used to work at the Library in Inwood. It was full of fishes and glitter and two purple G's. I took my name and made it my definition and goal: to shine. Whenever I was in a play on stage, I would reminded myself that I had to shine like gold. When I was in school, I wanted to be the best writer and even began a small writing group among my friends. We would pass a notebook between classes and we would take turns adding to the never ending story.
And look at me now! I'm running a blog, sharing my thoughts and writings with you my Mythical Readers on a weekly schedule. If anything, I can only say that my pride in my name has only grown over these years, and I hope to only bring more honor, so that the next Oriana, might be named after me as I was named after Fallaci. Or in the least, inspire others!
What does your name mean? Does it define you or do you give your name your own meaning?
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