My 3rd Speech at Toastmasters – Name

Below is the script of my speech tonight:

May 14/14 – Toastmaster CC#3 – What is in a Name?  

Good evening Mr. Chair, fellow toastmasters and most welcomed guests!

What is in a name?  Our personalities are connected to our names, whether we like our name or not.  Most children are named by their parents. I of course had a Chinese name given to me when I was born but the name AMY was given to me by our sponsors when we first landed in Canada in 1979.

During high school, I went through a rebellious stage against my mom. At this same time I didn’t like my name because I felt that it was too simple and too short and basically just not cool enough for me.  At one time, I called myself Angela, then Rebecca, then Monica.  Or any other name of popular Chinese TV or movie stars I watched.

The older I got, the more experience I gained and the more I achieved I started to really appreciate the simplicity of AMY.  Amy is from the French word Amee which means “beloved.”  I don’t know how I didn’t learn about this earlier.  Because if I had, I wouldn’t have changed my name so many times.  I definitely like the sound of my name but more importantly the depth of its meaning really resonated with me on a deeper level.  Since then, I’ve become more curious about how people got their names and would actually often ask them about it.

Some parents like to name their children after some heroes, celebrities or family members. When I was choosing the names of my children, I decided on giving them the names of the people I admired the most.

My eldest child’s name is Kelvin.  I got his name from a character who was very intelligent, good looking and very kind.  He was the CEO in a Chinese soap opera I loved watching 23 years ago.  I was so in love with this character that I fantasized that my son would grow up to be like him. When my son was born, I didn’t even have to think of what name to give him.  It was somehow pre-destined.

My daughter Jody is now 21 years old.  When I first came to Canada, learning English was very hard.  I remember having difficulty in pronouncing “sugar” and would say it without the “sh” sound.  A boy named Dave would be pointing his hand to my face and would laugh at me.  He humiliated me to the point of tears.

There was this beautiful Caucasian girl at the time who comforted me while I was crying.  She then decided to give up her recess and lunch play time to be with me just to teach me the “sh” pronunciation.  I was able to say it properly within a week. I felt confident in front of Dave now that I could pronounce the word properly.   I felt so touched with her kindness that I vowed to myself that if I ever have a daughter, then for sure I would name her Jody after her.  Twelve years later, my Jody was born…

I was divorced when Kelvin was 4 and Jody was 2.  Feeling secured with having a boy and a girl now, I went to the doctor and requested to have my tubes tied.  Besides, I was so sure I didn’t want to have any more kids.  The doctor refused because I was newly divorced and was only 24 years old.  So I gave up after being told the same thing by 3 different doctors.

I worked as a mortgage broker for the first 4 years after my divorce.  This job was paid on commission so the more deals got approved, the more money I got.  There was an underwriter named Deon that worked for BMO who always went out of his way to approve my deals because he felt sorry for me for being a single mom with zero financial support.  I was so touched and grateful for his help that I told him that if I ever had another child, I would name my child after him. But at this time, I had zero intention of being a mom again.

Surprisingly, I re-married when I was 30 years old and when I became pregnant, I was very happy that the doctors refused to tie my tubes 6 years before.  I never wavered on my promise 4 years before to name my baby after the man who helped build my success back then.  My baby, Deon, is now 13 but he will always feel like a baby to me since he is the youngest among my 3 beautiful children.

My kids really liked the story behind their names, especially Jody.  She even offered to help me track down the pretty and kind classmate, Jody, for me but unfortunately I couldn’t remember  her last name since I was only 10 years old then.

Knowing where we came from is very important.  Knowing how we got our name and how it reflects our personality are equally important. We will always be what our name is.  Maybe, if you don’t know your own story, this will inspire you to find out how you became the name that you are.  What’s in your name?  It’s for you to find out!