is for Janelle. Seems kind of obvious, huh? Well, that is my name after all, so how could I leave it out of my Life in Alphabet?!So, what does my name mean? Well, after doing some research, have discovered that it's only been around since the 20th century (but I wasn't surprised to read that). It comes from the name "Jane", which comes from the name "John", which means "God is Gracious". As someone who is less than perfect, a sinner, even (!), it's certainly reassuring to know that God is gracious. If He wasn't, I'd be in a whole lot of trouble! And it's nice to know that my name means exactly what I need - a gracious God!
Okay, we've covered what my name means, but how did I end up with that name? Well, apparently, this is how the story goes (according to my mum [I hope I've got it right!]):
Mum and Dad were going to call me "Ellen Doreen" after my two grandmothers. They didn't really like Doreen as the middle name and my dad liked the name Janelle, so it became "Ellen Janelle". They then decided that Janelle was too nice a name to have a middle name, so it became "Janelle Ellen". Then they decided that there were too many "l's" in the name, so they changed my middle name, but Janelle as a first name stuck! (I've intentionally not included my middle name because, although I love it, especially with the unique spelling of it, I want to protect some of my privacy - in case you were wondering!)
As I was growing up, my name was quite uncommon, so I didn't like it. I wanted to be called Rachel (which happened to be the popular girl's name in my class!). However, I started to love my name as I got older because of it's uniqueness. It's not quite so unique anymore as I've come across more and more women with the same name, but I still love it all the same!
Do you know the origins of your name?
On a side note, the name of Miss Universe in the year I was born, was called "Janelle!". She was only crowned in July, which is a couple months after my birthday, so I don't know if it was a coincidence or not! I'll have to ask Dad about that one when I see him in February!
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