Put down your life’s story in 52 weeks (1-4)

This article is part of the series “Put down your life’s story in 52 weeks” in which I accepted the challenge of writing down snippets of my own life’s story in 52 weeks.

The first 4 questions:

1. What is your full name? Explain why your parents gave you that name.
2. When and where were you born? Describe your home, your neighborhood, and the town you grew up in.
3. What memories do you have of your father (his name, birth date, birthplace, parents, and so on)?
4. What memories do you have of your mother (her name, birth date, birthplace, parents, and so on)?

My thoughts

As I said I’ll be working through those questions for a private life story which I won’t make public. But I’ll share my thoughts about one or more of the questions.

Given names are often dependant on a name craze, a religious belief or other relatives’ names. When I asked my mom about my name she surprisingly told me none of those reasons were true. Apparently my name was slightly inspired by the Swedish actress Ingrid Rosselini née Bergmann.

“Ingrid” had been in vogue during the first half of the 20th century but became out of style in the early 50s. It doesn’t even appear among the top-30 names in my birth year. Trendy names at the time of my birth had been Petra, Marina or Manuela – two of which are associated in my mind with highly snotty girls in my class. And admit it: if you dislike a person you very likely aren’t too fond of their given name either, right?

My parents tried to pick a name that they considered to be neutral and halfway timeless. Apparently some of the other options suggested by friends and family had been Rosa, Flora or Mathilde, all of which I considered to be “old women’s names” when I was a child. I knew a girl named Mathilde, and at school she often was teased about her name. Wouldn’t have made me too happy at that time.

So all in all I’m quite content with my name. And I consider myself lucky to have only one given name. Makes things easier and quicker, for example if I have to sign a document or fill out a form.

What about your name? Have you been named after a relative or a famous person? Did you ever ask your parents which other options they considered?