I was named after another baby in the hospital nursery. When my mother arrived at the hospital to deliver me, my parents had not decided on a name. My mother favored Robin or Tanis. My father preferred Whitney or Amanda. None of those names sound right with my unusual surname. As her contractions increased, the nurses urged my mother to walk up and down the halls of the maternity ward. She stopped to admire the babies through the nursery window, and her eyes stopped on particularly pretty little bundle. She asked the nurses its name.
"Jennifer Elizabeth."
She looked at my father. He shrugged.
I had a name.
This story has always irked me. My name was practically picked from a hat. Yesterday I got curious about the origin and meaning of the name. I had been under the impression that it was Welsh and meant 'fair hair.' I am a brunette, and that simply would not do! So I did bit of research...
From http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/plaza/ge75/names.htm:
Origin: Celtic. Meaning: fair and yielding. Possibly derived from the names Guenivere, Genevieve or Gwendolyn. According to babynames.com:
Meaning: White Wave. Origin: Welsh
From www.behindthename.com:
Feminine. Cornish form of Guinevere.
So I looked up Guinevere.
Feminine. From the Welsh name Gwenhwyfar, which is composed of the elements gwen meaning "fair, white" and hwyfar meaning "smooth". In Arthurian legend she is the beautiful wife of King Arthur. Her betrayal of her husband with Mordred prompted the battle of Camlann, which led to the deaths of both Mordred and Arthur. Later versions of the legends tell of her adulterous affair with Sir Lancelot. From : http://www.tbns.net/babynames/index.html:
Origin: Celtic/Old English. Meaning: One who loves peace, Fair.
Finally, from www.babynamer.com:
This girl's name is used in German and English. Its source is Gwenhwyfar, a Welsh name meaning "Pure and yielding, whitewave."
The name Jennifer ranked sixth in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census. The name also ranked 14th for females born in the United States in 1994.
So I'm supposed to be pale and easy and I love peace but my promiscuity leads to bloodshed. Lovely.
| 
