"When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty, because they didn't really do it. They just saw something." – Steve Jobs
Since one of the “5 Posts to Write Right Now” according to The Daily Post was the story of your name, I decided I would share mine.
There was no particular reason my parents chose Mikaela over their other choices – Madison, Megan, and Nicki. Well, except for my uncle convincing my mom that Nicki sounded like a stripper name.
As most of you are probably aware, there are a few different spellings of my name. I’ve seen Michaela, Mikayla, Makayla, Mckayla, and plenty more. I know many of the alternate spellings, because mine is often mistaken for one of them. Seeing “To: Makayla, From: Extended Family Member” at Christmas is something I’ve grown accustomed to. When a substitute teacher pauses when calling roll, I just say, “it’s Mikaela, and I’m here.” A typical trip to Starbucks looks a little something like this:
Me: “May I have a tall iced vanilla macchiato please?”
Employee: “That’ll be $3.66. May I have a name for your order?”
Me: “Mikaela.”
Employee: “Is that spelled M-I-C-H-A-E-L-A?”
Me: “Sure, why not?”
Mikaela is the phonetic spelling of the name in Spanish. Seeing as it is the phonetic spelling, you would think people wouldn’t have a hard time pronouncing it.
The towns that my parents grew up in were about an hour apart (my mom’s college roommate was dating my dad’s twin brother, that’s how they met.) When they got married, they had to decide where to put down their roots as a family. They ended up choosing my mom’s hometown, but not after buying a piece of land where my dad grew up.
Later, they decided to sell the piece of land, but not before naming the road after me, and that’s where I got the photo above.
Even though I have lived my whole life as a member of the No Keychain Club (meaning that they don’t make keychains with my name on it) I still love my name. Around 4th grade, I regrettably entered a phase where my friends called me Miki (and sang “Hey, Mickey!” by Toni Basil every time I entered a room) but that has thankfully passed. It’s been shortened to Mik, and that is only used by a select few. Most of my nicknames have absolutely nothing to do with my real name. One of those nicknames has gained me limited access to the keychain club. My car keys proudly sport a “PHIL” keychain that my best friend gave me for my sixteenth birthday, but that name is another story in itself.
Creativity is Defiance 
The Story Of My Name
Posted: June 17, 2014 in UncategorizedTags: christmas, comment, creative, creative writing, creativity, daily post, inspiration, mikaela, name tag, names, opinion, response, story, words, write, writer, writing
Since one of the “5 Posts to Write Right Now” according to The Daily Post was the story of your name, I decided I would share mine.
There was no particular reason my parents chose Mikaela over their other choices – Madison, Megan, and Nicki. Well, except for my uncle convincing my mom that Nicki sounded like a stripper name.
As most of you are probably aware, there are a few different spellings of my name. I’ve seen Michaela, Mikayla, Makayla, Mckayla, and plenty more. I know many of the alternate spellings, because mine is often mistaken for one of them. Seeing “To: Makayla, From: Extended Family Member” at Christmas is something I’ve grown accustomed to. When a substitute teacher pauses when calling roll, I just say, “it’s Mikaela, and I’m here.” A typical trip to Starbucks looks a little something like this:
Me: “May I have a tall iced vanilla macchiato please?”
Employee: “That’ll be $3.66. May I have a name for your order?”
Me: “Mikaela.”
Employee: “Is that spelled M-I-C-H-A-E-L-A?”
Me: “Sure, why not?”
Mikaela is the phonetic spelling of the name in Spanish. Seeing as it is the phonetic spelling, you would think people wouldn’t have a hard time pronouncing it.
The towns that my parents grew up in were about an hour apart (my mom’s college roommate was dating my dad’s twin brother, that’s how they met.) When they got married, they had to decide where to put down their roots as a family. They ended up choosing my mom’s hometown, but not after buying a piece of land where my dad grew up.
Later, they decided to sell the piece of land, but not before naming the road after me, and that’s where I got the photo above.
Even though I have lived my whole life as a member of the No Keychain Club (meaning that they don’t make keychains with my name on it) I still love my name. Around 4th grade, I regrettably entered a phase where my friends called me Miki (and sang “Hey, Mickey!” by Toni Basil every time I entered a room) but that has thankfully passed. It’s been shortened to Mik, and that is only used by a select few. Most of my nicknames have absolutely nothing to do with my real name. One of those nicknames has gained me limited access to the keychain club. My car keys proudly sport a “PHIL” keychain that my best friend gave me for my sixteenth birthday, but that name is another story in itself.