Hi, my name is Mallory and my name means "unlucky", "ill-fated", or "unfortunate".

For the longest time, I found this kind of a depressing fact. Throughout my years of elementary, middle, and high school, there's been a project almost every year of some sort that involved finding the meaning of my name and where it derives from. No matter what website I researched on, I always got this same result or something along the same lines of it. I was always the only person in my class who had such a negative meaning to my name, while everyone else's meant such nice things or were derived from the Bible which generally had a positive connotation. I always felt kind of sad about this, but after my most recent project that involved researching the meaning of my name for Spanish class, I realized it doesn't define who I am at all. Now, of course it'd be great to have a name that meant "child of God" or "brings joy", but all in all, I don't really care about the meaning of mine. There are definitely other cultures who put an extreme emphasis on naming children, with special ceremonies and believe that a name determines their child's entire future life, but I just can't bring myself to believe that.

For my summer reading book this year, I had to read The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. While I really enjoyed reading this book and respect the Bengali culture that it revolved around, the entire novel was about the importance of names and how they affect the lives of the people who hold such sacred and special names. As much as I loved reading the book and learning so much about a culture outside of my American one, I don't agree with how big of a role names play in their society. I don't believe that names determine someone's future- the person who holds that name determines it. So to me, a name isn't going to decide for that person whether or not they're successful in the future, what job they're going to have, if they'll be married and have kids, or anything else. I think that no matter what name someone has, ultimately it's just whatever decisions someone makes throughout their life that will decide their fate.

So, back to my name. After reflecting on that idea, I've determined that my name in no way reflects my actual life. Generally, I don't really think I'm unlucky or unfortunate or ill-fated at all. Of course, I do have my moments of bad luck, but doesn't everyone? I have more good luck and fortune in my life than anything. I have a family, friends, a good education, a roof over my head, a laptop to write this article on, and I'm generally healthy. Maybe if I lived my life expecting to have some constant bad luck or bad fortune then that would come true, but I try to have a positive outlook and I believe that makes all the difference.

All in all, I've come to the conclusion that nobody's name really means much except as a means of identification. Otherwise, the meaning of your name, although potentially motivating if it's something special to you, really doesn't do anything to determine your future life. The only thing that determines your future is you and your decisions- so make good ones!