Most people will have unique stories about how their name became what it is. Stories like my name is my great great Grandma’s name or it’s my Grandpa’s middle name or something bizarre like it was the first thing my parents thought of as soon as they saw me for the first time. My story is different, my parents found my name along with millions of other names in a baby book. I don’t know why or how they picked my name when there are so many to choose from. Maybe they chose it because it fit with my middle name or maybe it went well with my last name. Maybe it was the first name they flipped the page to. I have never really pondered about my name and the meaning of it. I’ve never questioned my parents about my name. It didn’t really occur to me until now.

I wouldn’t ever ask to change my name. Sometimes I wish I could have a name that’s different from others. As I walk down the halls at school I will hear someone call out “Erin” but I soon realize that they aren’t hollering for me. I wish I could have a miraculous story to tell on how my name became my name if anyone ever asked. I guess that’s something I could never have unless I could travel back in time to 14 years ago.
Everyones name has a meaning. My name means peace. It’s kind of fitting because my parents always told me as a daughter of three kids I was always the one breaking up the fights and as a baby I slept a lot! I was always the most peaceful one of the house. I guess this could still be true today. Every once in awhile there will be a few fights here and there between my siblings I’m usually the bystander of the fights and have no involvement in them.
As I grew up playing soccer my dad always thought how fun it would be to yell out something instead of “Go Erin!” on the soccer field. He wanted something quick and simple so I now go by EB on the soccer field. EB stands for my first and last initials of my name. I like how on the soccer field whenever I hear EB I know it’s my dad cheering for me. EB is the only nickname I’ve ever had and I only go by it when my dad’s around. Most of my friends call my Erin but some will call me Erhinge (air-hinge).
My name is Erin Lee . My mom and dad made me and my 2 sister’s middle names click. My mom’s middle name is LeAnn and my older sister’s is the same. My younger sister and I split the middle name, so I ended up with the first half, Lee and my younger sister took the other half, Ann.
Usually people say the middle child of the family is always the one that is forgotten. In movies it’s always the middle child accidently left at home or left at grocery store. At my house no one is forgotten everyone has a place in our family. Without one of us our family wouldn’t be the same. I love knowing that my name is Erin Lee Bohlender because it’s what my parents decided to name me. No one had anything to do with what my name was except for the people who raised me. I know I don’t have a unique name or a miraculous story to tell on how I got my name, but I do know that I should be proud of my name since it’s the name my parents had given me.