Bloganuary writing prompt
Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.
"Stephanie" is a popular name. At my oldest's Girl Scouts ceremony in 2005 or so, no fewer than 11 Stephanies walked up to receive their patches, and I remember wondering when that had happened, since growing up, I was the only Stephanie I knew.
Well, back then I was "Stephenie", a variation that closely aligned with the last name of my maternal line. My father chose the middle name "Beth", but I'm not sure why, because he wasn't around to tell me.
"All my life, my heart has sought a thing I cannot name.
Remembered line from a long- forgotten poem."
--Hunter S. Thompson
When my step-father legally adopted me at around age 12, the paperwork came in as "Stephanie", and I asked to keep it that way. The case I made then was that it was too confusing for other people, but actually I disliked being named after a last name. It felt like there wasn't much love or creativity in that choice, and although I never said so aloud, didn't like hearing my full name for that reason. "Stephie", which my grandfather called me, and my mother when talking about me with family, felt much better. Friends usually shortened the name to Steph, still do, but I prefer it long again now. 🙂
"To name oneself is the first act of both the poet and the revolutionary."
--Erica Jong
I learned something new about my name this morning: that Stephanie means not only "crowned one" as one might commonly see, but more specifically "that which surrounds", which makes me think of GO/Baduk. The objective in GO is to surround, and there's a flow to the back and forth surrounding of the game that I really like. It reminds me of the way water moves on a flat surface during a heavy rain, pooling and changing shapes.
I also like that Stephanie sounds so near to Persephone, as the story of Persephone is a myth that stirs deep imagination. In the Immortality Key book I just read and have mentioned before, the cult and ritual of Persephone features as having been significant in rebirth and transformation prior to Christianity.
"Proserpina," by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1874
Stephen masc. proper name, from Latin Stephanus, from Greek Stephanos, a particular use of the noun stephanos "crown, wreath, garland, chaplet;
crown of victory, wreath awarded as the prize to the victor in a public
contest," and by extension "victory, honor, glory." Literally it is "that
which surrounds;" the Greek word also was used of the ring of
spectators at a fight or the wall around a town. It is from stephein
"to encircle, crown, wreathe, tie around" (from PIE root *stebh-
"post, stem; place firmly on, fasten;" see step (v.)).
It was exclusively a monk's name in Anglo-Saxon England,
it became popular after the Conquest. Saint Stephen, stoned
to death, was said to be Christianity's first martyr.
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