Intro Part 2

I thought I'd start with the shortest and least formal piece I plan on posting, which happens to be about my name, so it will serve as a nice introduction:

I Couldn't Think of Any Other Name:

I was not named after the actress Siobhan McKenna. My parents had to look up how “Siobhan” was spelled: the Gaelic way, or the “right” way as I was always told. They had never heard the name “Siobhan” until my father’s co-worker and friend mentioned it to him, though “Siobhan” sounds quite similar to the name, “Sean,” which my parents would have chosen for me if I were a boy.
“Siobhan” is Gaelic for “Joan” in English. It means “grace” or “grace of God,” which doesn’t quite suit me…
When I was born, they were still wrestling between “Siobhan” and “Molly,” but I “didn’t look like a Molly.” My father’s favorite story about my name is that when he went into work after I was born and told his boss his first child was named, “Siobhan,” his boss told him, “I couldn’t think of any other name.”
It would have been a little easier, I think, to have another name, one which people could pronounce. A name like my sister’s, “Katie,” (which is her full first name), or my brother’s, “Michael,” certainly would have gotten me less horrendous nicknames and name butchering every first day of school or substitute teacher. Perhaps with a more normal name I wouldn't have to feel like an idiot every time I wear a name tag. Perhaps I wouldn't have to be ready to spell it twelve times every time someone needs to write it down, though I do enjoy those conversations, which tend to go something like:
"You said 'v', right?"
"No, 'b'"
"So it's pronounced Sha-BON"
"No, it's pronounced like a 'v'"
"Like a 'b'?"
When I told my parents no one could pronounce my name, they shrugged and said, “yeah…we thought that might happen.”
My grandmother wanted my name to be Florence like hers, but my parents were kind enough to veto that. They did stick to one tradition from my father’s family in giving me my middle name, “Ann.” For at least four generations, the oldest child on my Dad’s side has had a middle name beginning with “A.” They pass it on to their children. My great-grandfather, Bernard Aloysius, was the oldest, as was my grandfather, Thomas Aquinas, as was my father, also Thomas Aquinas, as am I, Siobhan Ann. Being the first female, I may be the first one not to pass on the “A. McKenna” middle initial and last name. Knowing my family the whole thing was probably started as a joke anyway because they thought “A McKenna” was a funny pun or something.
I think my parents heard my name and fell in love with it. That’s why they didn’t care that it would be hard for people to pronounce, or why they didn’t give my siblings equally hard names. They did not consider those things. What mattered was that they heard this beautiful Irish name and they both liked it.
When I was born was I think when my name really became “mine” in all ways. When my parents chose it over “Molly” because “I didn’t look like a Molly” was when they saw something in me that made “Siobhan,” the most suitable name they could give me. People often ask me if I wish my parents had chosen an easier name, and the answer is absolutely not. I am thrilled my parents chose “Siobhan” to be my name, not only because it’s beautiful, but because it’s different. All parents tell their children they are “different” and “special.” My parents made sure that I was by making the thing that marks my identity, my name, the first thing people see or the first thing I tell them, beautiful and unique.