My name is Andrea Guadalupe Garibaldi
I am named sort of after my dad, his name is Andres. My name is spelled like his name except I have the letter A at the end of my name. The name Andrea means to be courageous and I can relate to this meaning. All my life I have always been willing to take risks and push myself to accomplish many things. My parents always had the theory that I was going to be a boy so my mom wanted to name me after my dad.
My mom at first could not get pregnant until she went to a curandera to cleanse her body. The curandera mentioned to my parents to start thinking about some boy names because my mom was showing signs that she was going to have a boy. But once they found out I was going to be a girl they were really excited and shocked. My parents were still be able to find a way for my dad and I to share some similarities in our names. I am also proud to say that I can share similarities with my dad by being hardworking and caring just like him.
My middle name is Guadalupe. I am named after my grandmother. I am not really close to my grandmother because she lives in Mexico, but sharing the same name as her makes me have a connection with her. I also share the same middle name with my closest cousin, I consider her more as a sister because of how close we are. Having the same middle name as my cousin is important to me because I look up to her and follow her footsteps. I am glad to say that me and my cousin share the same middle name and connection with my grandmother. Guadalupe originally comes from the Catholic religion of the Virgin Mary also known as La Virgen De Guadalupe. La Virgen De Guadalupe is a catholic saint that we pray to, she is our mother. Many people look up to La Virgen De Guadalupe. When people pray to her they ask for strength and to protect those they love. In Mexico many women and sometimes men are named after La Virgen De Guadalupe, it is like a tradition.
My last name means a lot to me because it is my dads last name and he is an important person in my life. Garibaldi to me means family because when I hear my last name I think of my family and all the memories we share together. My dad’s family is important to me because even though most of my family lives in Mexico we all are still able to keep in touch. I am grateful that I am able to be a part of my dad’s family. My last name is the name I feel closest to, and I am very proud to be a Garibaldi.
Dear Andrea,
Hey Andrea,
Thank you for sharing such a powerful story about your name. It even made me connect to your middle name, due to also believing in the virgin mary. I would love to hear more about how you connect to your first name more. Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed reading this piece.
I really liked the work that you did here! It was a well thought name memoir and it was excellent, good job.