"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
-William Shakespeare
Hime Cecelia Chadwick is my full name. Hime means “princess” in Japanese. Though my dad tells me it was my mom who chose my name, she tells a different story. Apparently, she wrote a long list of names that she liked, Japanese and American alike (my mother is Japanese, whilst my father is American). My father was the one who looked through it and chose what he liked (and he was very picky), which turned out to be who I am today, Hime. Cecelia, when I looked it up on Google, means “blind”, or “way for the blind”. This isn’t, however, how I got my middle name. It’s actually my dad’s mother’s name, though it does fit me, as I am extremely near-sighted. Chadwick means “From the warrior’s town” or something of the sort, and is from my dad’s side of the family, whose ancestors changed their last name to Chadwick to sound American, as they were from Holland and trying to get into the U.S.
I can’t choose a color for my name, because my name is who I am, even if it doesn’t sound like it. Am I a soft pink color, for the princess my name hints myself to be? Am I a dark purple for a shy and not-easy-to-spot color? If I don’t know exactly who I am, I don’t know what color I am, much less the color of my name. As for the meaning of my name... I don’t like to think of myself as a princess, as modern “princesses” may be viewed of as somebody spoiled, and I don’t like to be thought of this way. When you look up "Hime" on Google, you get suggestions for "Hime make-up" and "Hime nails". This feels very girly, and I don't feel that I am a very girly person. If you were confused with the image at the top of this post; that's what I think looks like a "Hime" type of person. Also, the pronunciation of Hime in Japanese is different than that of English, and mispronunciations cause me to feel uncomfortable and annoyed. In Japanese, Hime is something soft and pretty-sounding, while in English, it can end up sounding rough and strange. My name is something special to me, and having somebody call me something else does not make me happy. In third grade, I was new to my school, and very quiet and shy. My teacher misheard my name, therefore, for half the year I was known as “Himen”, until we got a new art teacher and I corrected everybody when telling her what my name was.
I’m happy with my middle name Cecelia, though sometimes people think this is my first name as nobody really hears about anybody with the name “Hime” (like on an attendance sheet: “Cecelia, Hime Chadwick” is what it says). What I don't like is that it is also feminine, which adds to the girly-ness of Hime. This makes me feel that my name is unbalanced. Hime Cecelia Chadwick- doesn't that sound like you're about to see a girly person? Or is that just me? You may view Hime as something weird and foreign, in which case it does not look pink and flowery at all. What I feel, however, is that, if I had a less princess-sounding first name, my name would sound better. However, I am happy with my name. I like my middle name because it adds a nice ring to my entire name: Hime Cecelia Chadwick (my fourth-grade teacher said it sounded like an author's name), and because my grandmother, whom I inherited my middle name from, is somebody I admire.
I don’t think I could be happier with any other last name than Chadwick. It means, “Defense warrior” or “from the warrior’s town”. I used to be teased about it when I was younger, being called “Chad-wicked”, and this caused me to feel slightly annoyed that I didn’t have my mother’s maiden name, “Kina” (which, apparently, means “judged” in Hawaiian, though this means nothing to me), as my last name. However, now I do feel proud of being a Chadwick, as it is an interesting last name and completes my full name. My name may not suit me very well, or even make much sense to those who don't speak Japanese, but I'm proud of my name, because I was named, still am, and continue to be Hime Cecelia Chadwick.
