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Help[Facts] *cough*
in reply to a message by Sabrina
Pardon me, but I feel compelled to step forward and defend my name. As a Jessica myself, born and bred, I feel a responsibility.
"Jessica" is a perfectly good name -- it's derived from the Hebrew word "yishai" (sp?) meaning "gift". William Shakespeare invented it for the Merchant of Venice, needing a properly Jewish-sounding name, or so I've heard. While in my girlhood it caused me trouble with it's length (you have no idea how I envied the Anne's and Sara's when trying to spell out all seven letters in kindergarten!) I feel it has a certain elegance to it, and is very feminine sounding.
I like how it has the hard "k" sound on the end, like the ancient Romans used with their names ("Lucilla" and "Lucius", amoung others, were pronounced with hard "k"s, hence "Lu-kill-a" and "Lu-ki-us" instead of "Lu-sill-ah" and "Lu-shoos"). I'm proud of it's origin. And ya know what? I don't care that it's common. In my home in the Deep South, we have more double-names like Suzy-Jo and Billy-Bob, and Jessica isn't so common. In fact, I've only ever had two classmates with the name Jessica. And no playground bully I knew was ever able to twist it into something taunting, like "Smelly Shelley".
On the other hand, I hate it when people try shortening it to "Jesse" or hacking off an "s" and making it "Jesica". These Jesses and Jesicas are other people, not *me*.
*steps down from podium*
"Jessica" is a perfectly good name -- it's derived from the Hebrew word "yishai" (sp?) meaning "gift". William Shakespeare invented it for the Merchant of Venice, needing a properly Jewish-sounding name, or so I've heard. While in my girlhood it caused me trouble with it's length (you have no idea how I envied the Anne's and Sara's when trying to spell out all seven letters in kindergarten!) I feel it has a certain elegance to it, and is very feminine sounding.
I like how it has the hard "k" sound on the end, like the ancient Romans used with their names ("Lucilla" and "Lucius", amoung others, were pronounced with hard "k"s, hence "Lu-kill-a" and "Lu-ki-us" instead of "Lu-sill-ah" and "Lu-shoos"). I'm proud of it's origin. And ya know what? I don't care that it's common. In my home in the Deep South, we have more double-names like Suzy-Jo and Billy-Bob, and Jessica isn't so common. In fact, I've only ever had two classmates with the name Jessica. And no playground bully I knew was ever able to twist it into something taunting, like "Smelly Shelley".
On the other hand, I hate it when people try shortening it to "Jesse" or hacking off an "s" and making it "Jesica". These Jesses and Jesicas are other people, not *me*.
*steps down from podium*
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Replies
I agree completely with the Missy/Melissa thing. Although my friends christened me "Mel" five years ago. I spent an entire year resisting, insisting I was *not* Mel, during which they called me "Not Mel".
I gave up. It stuck. So it goes.
I gave up. It stuck. So it goes.
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