The story of my first name is a little weird. I have an older sister, her name is Isabella and she is 5 years older than me. When my parents told my sister that my mom was pregnant with me, she told everyone that she was having a sister even though my parents did not know if I was a girl or a boy. About a week later, Isabella decided that my name was going to be Lili, because the frog on her LeapFrog was named Lily. The problem with letting your 4 year old name their sibling is that 4 year olds can’t spell very well and you end up with an incorrectly spelled name, so instead of Lily spelt like the flower (aka the American way), it’s spelt L-i-l-i. When anyone tried to correct 4 year old Isabella, she would argue with them until they gave up. She would also argue like this if people tried to tell her that I was going to be a boy.
My parents liked Lili, but they had given Isabella a long name, and in my family no one gets a name that is less than 5 letter names. So my parents proceeded to look for names that Lili could be a nickname for and ended up on Liliana, but my hispanic father decided to spell in spanish so there is only 1 “n”, no double “l” and no “y’ in my name. Thank god I was a girl because my parents did not have a boy’s name for me, and my sister would have tried to trade me in for a sister.
After naming me, my parents decided to never use my whole name, so until I got to school I did not know my whole name. That’s why I introduced myself as Lili, and sometimes don’t answer when I’m called Liliana.
