A name is one of the most important factors in our lives. We use it everyday, every minute. From our friends calling us at recess, or from our parents yelling at us to do our homework. Some names are hard, some names are easy. Some names are long, some are short. Each and every individual has their own name, and has a meaning behind the name. Today in this essay, let me guide you to explore different aspects of my name. In China, I often use my Chinese name, and I know a lot about it. However, as I moved to Canada, I began to get used to my English name. So today, I am going to talk about my English name, the one I don’t know that well.

Of course, before we get started, you need to know my name. My name is Lisa. Which is also short for “Elisabeth”. In the language of Hebrew, my name means Oath of God. While in German, my name means devoted to god. As you can see, the meaning of Lisa in these two languages are pretty similar. Actually, I know nothing about gods. It is the first name that I knew my name has something to do with gods and religion. This kind of surprised me. However, in Chinese, it has a completely different meaning. In Chinese, my name is split into two parts: “Li”, and “Sa”. Li means beautiful, or pretty. Sa doesn’t have any meanings. I find this surprisingly interesting because I never know that my names have different meanings in certain languages.

Now that you learned my name, you must wonder where is this name’s origin; why am I named Lisa. So let’s look back at a timeline.

In the kindergarten I participated back in China, we have English classes. The teacher require each of us to have a certain English name that we can use. Until than, I hardly experienced English, let alone having an English name. So my teacher helped me come up one. As you can probably inference, the name is Lisa. Here are few reasons why my teacher chose this name.

Firstly, it is short, as you can probably see. Lisa only has four characters. Which is a great help to a four years old kindergartener. The teacher believed that I will be able to remember the name better compared to name such as “Elisabeth” or “Dorothy”. And it turned out really well. Because I am still using the name eight years later, as you can see. A lot of my Chinese friends have gave up their names due to memory problems. But I am still able to remember my name. From a young kindergartener, to a junior school student.

Secondly, the name Lisa only has two syllables. They are “Li” and “Sa”. This is able to let the younger me pronounce my name really well. So when other people ask me what my name is, I am able to pronounce my name without hesitation but 100% accurate.

Thirdly, the name Lisa is great for writing down. While “L” is long and tall, “a” is short and small. “ i” has a dot, and “s” is curved and turned. My teacher believes that, with all sorts of varieties in my name, I can write down “Lisa” really prettily.

Fourthly, the name is unique. A lot of people don’t believe this. I don’t believe too, until I know no one with the same name and came up with a final conclusion: “My name is so common that no one has it.” It is proven that the name Lisa was at its peak of popular rate in 1960. Around 2000, its popularity ranking already dropped out of 100. So therefore, no one in my school has the name Lisa.

Of course, even though researches proved that the name “Lisa” is actually pretty rare, a lot of people don’t think so. When some of my friends heard my name, they were like “ that’s a really common name.”

Most people don’t have a strong opinion about my name. But there’s one thing for certain. The name is really easy to remember. People told me that it only took them a few days to remember my name, compared to another girl’s name who took weeks to remember.

However, there’s also one thing that bothers me too. In my grade, there’s a girl named Elizabeth. As you can tell, our names are pretty similar. What’s even more interesting is that first of all, we both got in the school at grade six. We both came from China. We are the same height. Therefore, teachers and other students often times mix us up. After a whole year of correcting, things have gone better now. But there are still people who mix the names up!

In today’s paragraph, I have shared with you information about my name. As I stated in my intro, a name is one of the most important factors in our lives. Thanks to this assignment, I am able to learn more about my name. Including interesting meanings, opinions, and a lot more. I am looking forward to gain even more knowledge about my name!