Names

The last Monday of each month I go to the Ladies Circle of Friendship in Burk's Falls. It is a gathering of, mainly, church going ladies. We have recently been learning about the various names for God and what they mean. This has started me thinking of the importance of names.
Throughout my life, my name has been mispelt or mispronounced. Anna is not a long or difficult name but, for some reason, people have trouble remembering the last 'a'. My maiden name is Burk and I had the opposite problem; people wanted to add an 'e' no matter how many times I would spell it. My husband's last name is Wager and, of course, he often has an 'n' added.
We often associate characteristics with certain names. You would not expect a bulldog to be called Fluffy unless the owners had a strange sense of humour.
All names have meanings and I admit that I have never been able to live up to mine. Anna means full of mercy, grace and prayer. Roger's name means famous spearman which, as he is an avid hunter, is appropriate. My son Richard's name means strong king which is somewhat obvious given all the royalty with that name.
Once in a while I will meet someone with a name that I feel is in contrast to their personality. When that happens, I always have trouble remembering it. Another case of my strangeness: I have always favoured 'L' names for females and "D" ones for males. Why, I don't know.
For the last ten or so years, parents have either been making up names for their children or changing the spelling. While some are rather nice, others doom the child to a lifetime of explaining their name. I met a young girl whose name was Dalyce and I thought it was pronounced dal ees. Nope. It was Dallas.
And, of course, many names have changed gender which makes for some rather amusing results when it comes to meanings. Darcy, for example, means dark man.
Blessings to all, whatever your name.