My Daughter's Name

While I impatiently wait for Monday’s court date, I thought I would post about the name I am giving my daughter. The name given to her by her birth mother is Altaseb. All along I had planned to keep her given name as her middle name. I have since decided not to. The meaning of the name Altaseb is “Don’t Remember Me.” I have no idea if her mother didn’t want to remember Altaseb, or if she didn’t want Altaseb to remember her. On two separate occasions, Ethiopian women told me that the name could also mean “Unwanted or Unexpected.” Given the circumstances (Altaseb was relinquished by her mother who was unable to care for her), I do not want to keep her given name.

This is silly, but it was important to me that her first name end in “a” or “ah” because all of her female cousins names end that way and I want her to feel that she belonged and was part of the family (and to keep that little unplanned tradition going). While searching thousands of names and their meanings, Janissa (pronounced Juh-Nee-Suh) continuously came up and was always in the back of my mind. There were many names that I liked, but the meanings were not special enough. Or I loved the meaning, but didn’t care for the name. For the longest time she was going to be Isabella Grace, until I found out Isabella is the 2nd most popular name in the U.S.! My little girl is very special and I want her to have a very special, unique name.

Okay, so now I completely understand why my sisters never told us what they were naming their children until after they were born. Everyone has an opinion about it! So I continued my search, and each time I stumbled upon the name Janissa. I loved the meaning – “God’s Grace” - and the sound of it went well with my last name. I finally just started telling people that her name was Janissa. Much to my amazement, everyone LOVED it. So now I had her first name.

As I mentioned, her given name was just too sad to keep, but I wanted her to have an Ethiopian middle name. I began researching all sorts of Ethiopian names, specifically for what they meant or represented. There were several with incredible meanings, but they were too long or too difficult to pronounce. I finally decided on Miriam, which means “Much Longed For.” Most of you know how I have longed for this child. You know that I started praying for her long before she was even born. You know how I broke down when I found out I hadn’t pass court on Tuesday. I have never longed for anything as much as this little girl. The name was perfect – and it is also a form of Mary! Those who know me really well know how much I love Mary, the Mother of Jesus. So her name is Janissa Miriam and she is loved beyond belief.