Decristan 1

Nicole Decristan
Ms. Raymond
UWRT 1102
20 January 2015
Name Practices of My Crazy Family Tree
I never understood why my parents decided to name me Nicole until I was five years old.
At four and a half years old my best friend had passed away. Being only four years old I was
devastated that I not only lost my best friend, but I lost my grandfather. But little did I realize,
my grandfather would always be close to my heart because I found out at five years old that I
was named after my grandfather. My grandfathers name was Nicholas and Nicole is the female
version of his name. All of the confusion came to an end and it turned into happiness. I was
honored that I was named after such an amazing person and I loved the fact that my grandfather
and I would always share a special bond because of our names.
After finding out why I was named Nicole I decided to explore the rest of my family. My
brothers name is Richard after my father and my mothers deceased brother. I also found out
that my dads father Joseph was really named Giuseppe. My grandfather Joseph, otherwise
know as papa Joe, had two sisters named Emma. Although they were both named Emma, they
never actually knew each other. In the Italian culture, after one child died it was normal to name
the next child the same name as the previous one. For example my grandfathers first sister
Emma died four days after she was born so when my great grandmother had her second daughter
she named her Emma as well.
My fathers side also has a habit of passing names from generation too generation. On my
dads side I had a great grandfather named Matteo, so my grandmother named my uncle Matthew

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and my uncle named his son Matthew as well. My dads other brother, Joseph, was named after
my grandfather and great grandfather. When my Uncle Joey had his first son he named him
Joseph as well. My moms side didnt follow this tradition because there are more girls then
boys.