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Catherine Nelson
Professor Raymond

UWRT 1104
21 February 2017
Writing Prompt 5
Growing up in Howard County Maryland I was surrounded by various kinds of people

such as Blacks, Whites, Asians, Hispanics, Mexicans, you name it. Living here all my life, as I

grew older I began noticing and appreciating the diversity that I grew up in. Being surrounded by

different kinds of people opened my eyes at a young age that different people have different

cultures and within that culture there are things that maybe be similar to others and things that

are completely different. For example, when it came to names specifically there are different

naming techniques for different cultures. When I was in third grade and was mainstreamed into

public school from private school, I noticed that many Asians had two names. The first encounter

that I had with this situation was when the teacher would take role and call out a foreign name

and a student was quick to correct it to their American name. I found this so intriguing to why

they had two different names and how they had the option to have two different names. Later on

in my third grade year, a girl moved from South Korea to Maryland and when she first got here

we called her by her foreign name and a couple of weeks later she decided on her American

name of Catherine. I also noticed that many Hispanics have extremely long names and I never

understood why. In one of the Spanish classes I took in high school we read an article that broke

down how they obtain their names, in particular their last names. I found out that when their last

name has two names they are surnames from their parents. Their first last name comes from

their father and their second last name comes from their mother. I realized that many families

do this so they do not lose the family name of their mother in the next generation.
My family personally does not have any interesting traditions or naming practices like

many other cultures do. My first name comes from my mothers sister, or my aunt. My mom
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always told me that she originally wanted to name me Zoe so I could have a Z in my name like

her name, Zebia, but my aunt Cheryl, who is also my moms sister, decided to name her daughter

after my mom. The American name Catherine means innocent while the French, Latin and Greek

meaning is pure or clear. The definition of pure is not mixed with another substance or free of

contamination. When I think of a person being pure, personally, I think of a flawless person that

has not done wrong within their life and that definitely does not describe me as a person. My

middle name, Elnora, is derived from my great-grandmother on my fathers side. I have never

been much of a fan of my middle name and I believe that is because it is not a common name

and many people butcher it when trying to pronounce it. The meaning of Elnora is light. Finally,

my last name Nelson comes from my dad, his last name is Nelson. Nelson means son of Neil.

The name was originally given in honor of the British Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson who is

known for the Battle of Trafalgar, which was a fight against the fleet of Napoleon.
My parents simply named me off of other family members names. In many ways I think

this could be seen as a way to honor the person that I was named after. My Aunt Catherine means

a lot to me, and she is also my godmother. My great-grandmother I never personally met, but I

like to think she meant something special to my dad in order for him to give me her name.