Alma and How She Got Her Name

Alma’s name is looooong, Alma Sofia Esperanza Jose Pura Candela is quite the mouthful.  When Alma expresses dismay to her dad, he helps her understand where each piece of her name and consequently each piece of herself originated.  Author Juana Martinez-Neal, really Juana Carlota Martinez Pizarro so named by Victor Nicolas Martinez Gomez can relate to Alma’s struggle.  This story of family heritage and finding yourself is beautifully written and illustrated.  I love the sentiment that pieces of a name may be connected to the past but that your name is uniquely you all the same and you write your own story each day.  

Juana Martinez-Neal includes a note to give some background information which concludes with a question: What is the story of your name? What story would you like to tell?  My name is Ellen Catherine Therese Dollarton Zschunke.  I was named Ellen after my paternal grandmother Eleanor.  She was a beautiful, bright, vibrant soul whose life story was cut short by cancer when my father was just nine years old.  I wish I had known her.  But I know that her blood runs through my veins and helps me to be a better person.  

Catherine for my aunt and godmother Cathy (short for Catherine).  My aunt Cathy is a devoted and loving woman, having grown up in the same neighborhood as my aunt (and we both still live here now) we have always enjoyed a close relationship.  My aunt is a musician and singer and inspired me in my young life to sing my heart out.  As a result, I was part of chorus and continue to sing out loud any chance I get.  

Therese was the confirmation name I chose.  I really liked the name Theresa (it’s pronounced differently) but my mom decided what I really meant was Therese (I didn’t but it’s grown on me).  Theresa (spelled with an h) is apparently not the name of a saint but Teresa and Therese are.  When choosing a confirmation name in the Catholic church, it must be the name of a saint.  So that was that. Therese is also my aunt Cathy’s middle name and the name of Saint Therese of the Little Flower.  My mom went to a high school in Philadelphia called Little Flower.  That wasn’t really related to the choosing of the name, but it is a point of reference.  

My maiden name, Dollarton, is pretty unique in this area.  It is believed that it was changed at Ellis Island.  In my neck of the Pennsylvania woods, only those in my direct family have the same last name but there is another group of Dollartons who we are presumably somehow related to in Norristown which is only about a 45 minute drive from us and there is a town and highway in Canada which I have resolved to one day visit.  That name shall be carried on by my cousins and their families.  My cousin and his wife will welcome their first child this summer and the name lives on.  

The name Zschunke is the last name of my husband and his family and now our family.  It originates on the Polish/German border and is pronounced chunky.  I get many questions about this name and though I didn’t grow up with it, I love it just the same.  I often joke that my last name is how you can tell I really love my husband.

And on to the names I had the honor to choose for my own children.  What an honor and a responsibility!  The weight of a name can really carry someone or weigh them down.  My daughter, Cecelia Ann is named for my maternal grandmother and subsequently my sister, Sheila.  Sheila is the gaelic for Cecilia, which was the spelling of my grandmother’s name, but I like Cecelia with the second e and so it was.  My maternal grandmother died when I was 4 so I don’t remember much but she lives on in the many epic stories of her life.  She was a strong woman who took advantage of opportunities afforded to her and made sure that she got herself to an optimal place.  The story that sticks with me is of a trip she was on with my mother in Europe.  On a tour, she made sure she got to the front to hear and see everything and talked to everyone.  I do the same and I hope to instill the same in my daughter.  Ann was one way to bestow Cece with a name that honored many people.  Each of her paternal aunt’s and both of her grandmother’s all have the middle name Ann, my mom with an e, but we already added an e into her first name.  Though she carries a name connected to many strong women in her life, she is her own person and her name is unique among her peers.  She carries it well and I believe her name will serve her well in life.  

My son, Elliot Orion, really got his own name.  No one in either of our families is named Elliot…or Orion.  My husband and I really liked the name Elliot and, knowing him now, never has a name more perfectly fit a child.  Orion for the constellation of the hunter in the sky and his belt.  My father and I used to go for night time walks in the winter.  My father was in the Navy and could tell the time by the position of the sun in the sky and pointed out constellations on clear nights.  The only one I could consistently locate was Orion and now I have my own Orion in the constellation of our family.  Elliot Orion will chart his own course in the skies.

Names tell such rich stories.  Juana Martinez-Neal weaves a beautiful story of Alma and her name and inspires readers to reflect on their own history and future related to names.

Title: Alma and How She Got Her NameAuthor: Juana Martinez-NealPublished 2018 by Candlewick PressISBN: 978-0-76736-9355-8