What's in a Name?

I personally love my name. Actually I guess I’m content with it. My first name, Lauren, is pretty basic. I know about a hundred other Lauren’s so it’s not a super unique name, but I do have a little story behind it. My mom was a teacher so when she was thinking of baby names, if there was a name she liked but then a student she had that gave that name a negative connotation to her, that name was no longer an option. Luckily, my dad’s name is Laurence so switching her choice to Lauren was pretty easy. Now that’s not to say that I am solely named after my dad, it’s just a coincidence. Lauren was a popular name for the kids of 2003, and it just helped that it was close to my dad’s name.

Now my last name is what I really like: Golden. It’s a stereotypical Jewish last name that is decently common, but that doesn’t make me love it any less. I couldn’t ask for any better of a name than the color description of first place and beauty. I personally can’t think of any negative connotation to the color gold or the description of something as golden. If I get married one day, I most definitely will NOT be taking my husband’s last name. Unless it’s somehow better than mine, I’m keeping Golden, especially since I’m so tied to it. 

My last name feels so close to me not just because it’s my family name, but also because of how frequently people identified me predominately with only my last name. Growing up all of my coaches would just call me “golden” as a nickname, or because there was somehow always another Lauren on my teams. It’s also just one of those names that is so stand out that it’s an easy one to adopt as a nickname. 

Since I am a triplet with an identical sister, a lot of people growing up categorized us together as just “the Goldens” or the “Golden twins”. I was always tied to my last name rather than have individuality with my first name, but it’s just what I was used to. 

All in all, I do like my name, and while sometimes I wish my first name was a little more original or unique, I always know that it’s tied to someone I love, and that my last name will always be the title of an iconic Harry Styles song.