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Daniel Maney
Raymond
UWRT 1103
1 October 2015
Daniel Lee Maney, WHY?
People are born and just automatically given a name and when we grow up other people
call us by that name and we never really question it. That is just your name and so that is what
people are going to call you. For this reason not many people know much history about the
origin of their last name, or why they have the middle name that they do, and who decided what
their first name was going to be. My name is Daniel Lee Maney and this is the history of my
name.
My first name, Daniel, was given to me by my older sister, Kristin, who was only five
years old at the time I was born. She originally wanted to name me Casey but my parents did
not think that it was a very good fit for me so they decided against it and thats when my sister
came up with Daniel. My mother says she came up with it because someone in her daycare class
had a little brother and his name was Daniel. Which is really funny when you think about it
because that is how she came up with the name that I will live with for the rest of my life.
My middle name is Lee, I am not sure who gave it to me, but I do know why it was given
to me. My fathers middle name is also Lee, Roger Lee Maney. I do not really like my middle
name, not for any good reason at all; I just do not think it is a nice one. I am troubled as to why
my Dads name is not William McKinley Maney III because his father was William McKinley
Maney Jr and I guess he just did not like growing up with the name so he did not want to pass it

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on to my father. I always joke with people and say that President William McKinley was my
Great Grandfather and they usually believe it until I tell them otherwise.
I do not know much about my last name (Maney) so I have decided to do my mothers,
Sharon Lynn Biggerstaff Maney, maiden name, Biggerstaff. The origin of the name is England
and Ireland. My family came to the United States via the Ellis Island Immigration cite around
the mid 1700s. It was very common that the last names would be recorded wrong because the
record takers could not understand the immigrants so, Biggerstaff, was originally spelled
Bickerstaff. I could not figure out who the first immigrants of my family were but I plan to find
out for the rest of the project. Back to my last name, Maney, I believe that its country of origin
is England but I would not swear to it. Through this project I also hope to find out more about
my last name.
I am grateful that my family has shared this information with me while growing up. I
wish I knew more about my last name rather than my mothers maiden name and I hope that I
can research and find out some more. The story behind the naming of me is not very interesting
but I cannot really help that so I just have to deal with it. I am not saying that I do not like it; I
just wish it were a little more interesting.