What's In A Name ?

I've always loved my name because it's so unique, and it fits me to a 'T'. Derived from the original French 'Desiree', which means 'the one longed for', I've taken to putting it a naughtier way as I've gotten older by saying my name means 'the object of desire'. (Look at the picture below. Do I or don't I look like a Dezzi Rae/Desiree ?)

My parents liked the name 'Desiree', which they picked up when they saw the Marlon Brando movie 'Napoleon and Desiree' but knew very few Filipinos would be able to pronounce it correctly so they decided to alter it a wee bit. 'Dezzi' was because I was born in December, and 'Rae' was in honor of my dad, Ray, on whose 27th birthday I chose to make my grand entrance into the world (talk about being a scene stealer!).

Just this week, I stumbled on a story online about a high school basketball star named Dezzirae Cafferata. I forwarded the story to my parents. My dad thought it was quite a coincidence, but pointed out that mine is spelled out as two words - 'Dezzi' and 'Rae'. My mom said, "Aw, c'mon! Maybe they saw your name in the papers when you first came to the States as a Soroptomist International Youth Forum representative'.

I finally decided to google 'Dezzirae' and 'Dezzi Rae' and wouldn't you know it, there were a few other Dezzirae's out there.

I did a little bit more research and found out that 'Dezzirae' is in fact an old English name that means 'dawn' or 'sunrise'. From 'object of desire' to 'sunrise'. Who would've thought?

If you're looking for cool baby names (like 'Dezzi Rae'- Ha!), one book that we bought a year ago and still enjoy going through and making notes on which names we'd like for our wee ones when the time comes is Cool Names For Babies. Taking inspiration from the book, we decided on Katana Lily if we have a girl, Mace Atreides (yes, as in The House of Atreides from the sci-fi novel 'Dune'), if we have a boy.

So, I may not be the only one in the world who spells her name as 'd-e-z-z-i-r-a-e' but hey, at least I'm the only one who spells it as 'd-e-z-z-i' and separate word 'r-a-e'. Or at least that's what I believe until another Dezzi Rae emails me and refutes my statement!