What's In A Name? A Lot, Apparently.

Well, I had originally meant to post yesterday, but Debate makes you unbelievably tired. Please, I encourage everyone to try and sit in a room with someone for forty minutes, while he/she tries to tell you why you're so dumb, and then go through that four more times. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love debate. The stress can just become a bit...overwhelming sometimes.

Oh, right, AP English.

Anyways, I remember writing in my journal about the name Marc and what it means literally and what it means to me personally. Well, I've thought about it more, and I have to admit that I love my name. Not just my first name either, all of it. Marc Paden Golsmith. Not your average name, huh? I'll break it down by each name (first, middle, last), since each one means something different to me.

My first name, Marc, kind of confuses me now, or at least what it means exactly. Apparently, it means a lot of different things. I have found three different meanings, which I will list; Roman Warrior, Rebellious, and Warlike. Um...yeah, most people who know me would not describe me as any of those. I do, however, fight for what I believe in and "rebel" against the norm. I mean seriously, who wants to be normal? It's just too boring.

Paden sounds like an odd middle name, right? Yeah, I kind of think so too, although I've always loved it. Some people freak out about their middle name and never want to tell people about it, but I don't mind. I adopted my middle name (and my entire name, for that matter) from my Grandfather, Marc Paden Golsmith. My parents wanted to honor my Grandfather (on my Dad's side) by naming their son (me obviously) after him. I never got to meet him, but my Dad always tells me about how great of a guy he was. I might elaborate about his great war stories in a later post, but I want to move on for now.

Lastly, Golsmith. Read closely. Golsmith. If you think I mistyped my own name, I didn't. Golsmith has no D, although it used it a while ago before I was born. My Grandfather (whom I get my name from) changed it since Goldsmith is a name of Jewish origin. The Jewish people were being discriminated against, and he had no idea how long it would last, so he decided it would benefit the family if he simply took out the D. That way, if someone asked about the name, my Dad could say that it's different from Goldsmith and not have to admit his Jewish descent. I hate the name Golsmith when I was a kid, since I would always have to repeat the name at least twice before someone spelled it right. I even received an award from the school last year, which had my last name spelled "Marc Goldsmith." Yeah, I wasn't too happy about that. I now love the name though, because the changing of our last name displays the love my Grandfather had for the well-being of his current family, and future generations of Golsmiths.

Basically, the way I see it, my name shows a lot about me. I fight for my beliefs, I honor my family, and I carry on the love that my Grandfather had for his family. If he were to see me now, would he be proud? I like to think he would.