Origin of My Name

ASSIGNMENT: Write an essay explaining the origin of your name and how you feel about it. My full name is Saidah Lauren Belo-Osagie. My name is definitely different from the average Joe’s, but it’s special because I know that even though it’s hard to pronounce, people will say, “Hey, you’re the girl with the hard to remember name.” And that’s okay. That’s because I know that my name means something special: Joy. My parents named me Saidah because they believed that I would bring joy and pleasure to the family, especially because right when I was born, a dove came to my window. That was definitely a good sign. The origin of my name comes from the Muslims. I’m not Muslim, and neither is my immediate family. But for some reason, my paternal grandpa was Muslim, for there were many Muslims in Nigeria. They insisted my name be Muslim even though that’s not what my mother had in mind. She wanted to name me Jasmine, a nice, pretty name. Even though I would like the name Jasmine, it was a common name. I need a somewhat peculiar name for a somewhat peculiar girl like me. People usually ask me what I feel about my name because it is so different, but I personally like it. At first I thought it was uncanny and bizarre, and I’d often ask my mom why it wasn’t something that everyone knew. But, of course, my name defines who I am, and I shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Several times, people would ask me what my name was, and when I said it was Saidah, they thought it was a pretty name. That made me feel much less insecure about my name. SAIDAH BELO-OSAGIE Seventh Grade One of the most intriguing subjects in the world is names. What do our names mean? Couldn’t we have had a different name? My first name, Miranda, was given to me in honor of a character from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. In this play, my namesake is the daughter of a magician who was once a duke but who was betrayed by his brother and abandoned on an island inhabited by spirits. I used to hate my name, but now I am