64 (mostly random) facts about my name

1. 
   
   Amanda means "beloved, worthy to be loved, loveable."
   
   



2. Amanda comes from Latin.
    



3. I remember the day in Latin class when we finally learned a deravitive that when added to the base verb for "love" was my name.  It was a cool moment.
      



4. My mom thought she was giving me a old fashioned name--not a trendy name.
   
   



5. Little did she know she was starting a trend. :)  From 1976 to 1995, Amanda was in the top 10 list of names given to little girl babies in the States.
   
   



6. My sister and brother both have bibical first names: Sarah and Samuel. I have always been envious of this fact.
    



7. Mom tries to console me by saying that she gave me the two names that were most beautiful to her.
    



8. Guinevere and Daisy were other possibilities.  Yes, I am a child of the 70's.
    



9. If I had been a boy, I would be Dustin Ray--they would've called me Dusty.
   
   



10. My sister and brother also both have first names that start with S.  I have always been envious of this fact too.
     



11. Mom tries to console me by saying that this was not intential.
    
    



12. Most people just call me "Amanda" (even my students).
     



13. My little friends call me "Miss Amanda."
     



14. Taiwanese people often misspell my name as "AmEnda." 
     



15. When I was in college, I had many international friends.  I could
    tell you which country someone was from simply by the way they
    (mis)pronounced my name.
     



16. To me, these "misprounciations" of my name are endearing.  I wouldn't want them to change. 
     



17. Many people do leave off the first "a," so I am known to many as "Manda."
     



18. I like being called "Manda."
    
    



19. In ninth grade, I told my English teacher to call me Manda--I even used it on all my homework and tests in his course.  Why?  I don't know.  Maybe that was my rebellious teenage act.  And, why only his?  In all other classes, I still went by Amanda.
     



20. My own "unique" Amanda nicknames from the past include "Danda" and "Minda.
       



21. Both come from my younger brother as he was learning to speak.
       



22. My sister still sometimes calls me Minda.
     



23. I called myself "Nana" when I was learning to speak.
     



24. My sister calls me "Nana Cole" on rare occasions.
     



25. I have been called "Manda Panda" before.
     



26. No one calls me Mandy.  No one ever has.
     



27. Growing up (Sam didn't come till I was 15), I was the only one in my
    family with a middle name that didn't start with the letter "E."  So,
    my "keep out" signs usually read something like "only those whose
    middle names do not start with E may enter this room."  Ok, yeah,
    you're right "keep out" would've been easier (but not near as much
    fun). ;)
    
    



28. I am secretly glad they didn't give Sam a middle name with an "E."  If I'd been the only child without the initials SEP and the only member of the family without a middle name starting with "E" the envy would just be too much for me to handle. :)  There would be no hope at consoling me.
     



29. Parmley is not a common family name.  In fact, my PawPaw (dad's dad) always told me that if I met another "Parmley" they were somehow related to me.
     



30. When searching for genelogy a few years ago, I found out that is has also been spelled "Parmlee," "Parmalee" and "Parmelee" in the past.
     



31. In 1920 several Parmley families lived in Texas.  In 1840, most of the Parmley families were in Kentucky.  Nifty.
    
    



32. Taiwanese people think my English name is LONG!  My full name in English is 7 syllables--that is more than twice the average Chinese name.  Names here in Taiwan are typically three characters long--one (first one) is the family name (or surname) and the next two are the given name.  Each character is one syllable, so most names here in Taiwan are only three syllables.  I guess each year I have at least one student with only 2 characters (syllables) in their name--everyone else 3. 
     



33. And I have seen some married women add their husband's surname to their name giving them a four character (syllable) name.  Most Taiwanese women don't change their family name when they get married.  This is not a feminism thing--just a cultural thing. 
    
    



34. Here in Taiwan, if someone is using Chinese to say "Amanda," I get called "阿曼達" (ah-man (like the Jamacian pronouncation of "man") -da ("da" not "duh" like in English)
     



35. This means graceful (or slow--choice is yours) and clear.
      



36. If I want new people to know my English name, I start with "Amanda" but then say "阿曼達" if they have trouble with the English only pronunciation version.
     



37. Some have even shortened this to just "阿曼" (ah-man).
     



38. Which I find interesting because in English the first "a" gets dropped, but in Chinese the final "da" gets dropped since the "ah" is used to make nicknames (kinda like we add an "ie" or "y" to the end of names).
     



39. I also have a Chinese name.  It is "李樂恩" (Lee Le-En). 
       



40. Lee is a common Chinese surname--my Chinese teacher choose it because of the "lee" sound at the end of Parmley.
    
    



41. The "Le-En" part of the name is the given name and means "joyous grace." 
     



42. I like my Chinese name. 
    
    



43. Here in Taiwan, when people ask for my
    name, I will ask if they want my English name or my Chinese name.  I am
    fine going by either.
     



44. In the community most people do not call me by any of these names.  Most everyone I talk to in my building and neighborhood calls me "老師" (lao shi, teacher).  Even though I don't teach them or anyone they know--this is my relationship to the community.
    
    



45. At first it took me a long time to get used to being called 老師 by the person I was buying breakfast from, but now I am accustumed to it and even enjoy it a little.
     



46. If my students want to call me "Amanda 老師" it is ok with me, but I don't let them call me "Amanda Teacher."  And if they call me just "老師," I tell them, they can call me "Amanda" if they want (but don't force them to call me by my given name).
    
    



47. It is odd for me when grown men and women show me such great repespect by calling me" 老師" in the classroom.  I don't know why out the community I am ok being called "老師," but actually in my classroom, I would prefer to be called "Amanda" or "Amanda 老師."  Uh-oh, something new for me to analyze.
     





48. There are 5 people in the USA with the name "Amanda Parmley." (How many have your name?)
    
     
    
    



49. Two of these other "Amanda Parmley"s have actually emailed me. They googled our name, found my website, and emailed me to say hi. Isn't that cool?
    
    



50. The year I was born, Amanda was the sixth most popular name for baby
    girls in the USA; Jennifer, Jessica, and Melissa were the top three.
    
    
    



51. 10 years before I was born, Amanda was the 132nd most popular.
     



52. 10 years after I was born, Amanda was the 3rd most popular.
     



53. So, there are a lot more people younger than me named Amanda than older than me.
     



54. There are 605,937 people in the U.S. with the first name Amanda.
     



55. Statistically, Amanda is the 80th most popular first name.
     



56. 0.404% of females in the US are named Amanda.
     



57. 
    More than 99.9 percent of people with the first name Amanda are female.
     



58. There are 2,370 people in the U.S. with the last name Parmley.
     



59. Statistically, Parmley is 12,913th most popular last name (tied with 211 other last names).
     



60. I have only had two friends named Amanda.  One went by Mandi, but the other goes by Amanda. 
    
    



61. In nine years of teaching, I have had only one student with the English name Amanda.
     



62. There is a country love song about "Amanda."  The only lyrics I
    know in the song are "Amanda, light of my life. . . "  I have never
    actually heard the real song.
     



63. I like my name.  Always have.  Hopefully, always will.
     



64. However, I would love to add a new last name to it sometime in near future. :)

What about you? Feel free to share a story or fact about your name!!  I know I just told you more than you ever wished to know about mine. :)

[H.T. Leslie at Lux Venit]