My name, Chloe, is a Greek name. It was a name given to the people from the Greek Goddess of agriculture, Demeter. Chloe means: green shoot, fresh blooming, and famous bearers. However, I know my name a different meaning to it all together. I was named after my mother's favorite perfume brand, Chloé. I think this puts a nice twist to my name. I also like to believe that this helps define me. My mom used to tell me that I am sweet and lovely as her perfume. I like to think that's still true.
I want to say that there is only one me that everyone gets, but that's not the case. My personality involuntarily changes around people dependent on my comfortability level with them. There's a wide spectrum of Chloes ranging from Family Chloe to Strangers Chloe. Family Chloe gets it all, every bad pun, stupid question, and weird obsession. I'm a completely different person with my family than I am around strangers. Stranger Chloe is a little more soft spoken. She's definitely nicer and a little shy. It's all in a bad attempt to make a good first impression.
One situation I can think of when I am apart of a group and am defined by that group is when I'm with my siblings. "The Villazor Kids" becomes this package of 5 people, who all have the same parents, that my mom and dad like to brag about to other parents. I'm no longer just Chloe. I'm the middle child who is following in the foot steps of her older two siblings. It's a little strange, because I lose a sense of self. All of a sudden I'm being compared to my siblings and what they have accomplished and people are asking if I plan on doing the same thing or something different. I have to meet my parents' expectations and more. I have to be Chloe, while at the same time be like my sister or my brother who have already done great things. It's no longer my accomplishments. It's my accomplishments compared to what my siblings have also accomplished, diminishing them just a little bit.
p.s. Happy Birthday Mrs. Genesky!
I like how you talked about the many you's you are with different people. I have seen tweets about how fake people are when they act differently around different people, but I don't agree. It's okay to act relative to the kind of relationship. It reminds me how the scop told a different version of the story depending on the demographics of the audience. Even though the story changes, it's still the same story. It is odd when demographics mix. Like when I'm cursing (what? I don't curse) with my friends and my mom calls me. It does make me feel awkward and a bit dubious.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you were named after the perfume! That's so sweet. I know you didn't talk about this, but don't all of your siblings have the same middle name as well. I know that my brother and I have two completely different middle names, but our first names start with the letter "K" and I know all of your siblings start with the letter "C". I was wondering if most parents name their children with the same first initial when they have multiple children. I wonder if that adds to this sibling pressure we have when we have older siblings. Since our names are so similar we need to live up to each other's accomplishments. Our names are usually meant to identify and define us as individuals, but when our names are so similar to one another do we lack that uniqueness that sets us apart from our siblings and are we then unable to create our own path when we have theirs to live up to.
ReplyDeleteI should find Christian's blog post for this prompt last year- I was interested to find out about his middle name!
ReplyDeleteAll of the different meanings of your name are very interesting and I find it very sweet that you were named after your mom's favorite perfume. Also, that whole last paragraph I feel like is true for a lot of people who are one of the youngest in their family. I don't personally identify with it because I am the oldest but it does make a lot of sense.
ReplyDelete