What's in my Name?

Many people call me by my first name: Jiea (pronounced "Jee-yah"). I can remember Mom call me by my second name Jennifer. I liked at first and I even nicknamed myself "Jenny". But then it hardly clicked since I was more likely to be remembered as Jiea. Sure, there are also many other girls who have the same name as I do but they have the common spellings: Gia, Jia or even Jhia. I find it fuuny how pinoys love putting H's into their nicknames.

There's one good thing about my name too. So far I'm the only one I know named "Jiea". Since I can't find a suitable meaning for it since for it's just a made-up name (Jiea is an anagram of my Father's nickname "Ajie"), I've just resorted to finding the meaning of my second name no matter how sickly widespread it is.

Jennifer:
Gender: Feminine
Language: Cornish and English

Etymology:
Jennifer is the Cornish form of a Gwenhwyvar. Originally it meant “White Wave,” “White Lady,” or “Fair Smooth,” from “gwen” (white) and “hwyvar” (smooth). Guinevere is the Norman French version of the name.

History:
Gwenhwyvar, the Welsh name, was adopted and Frenchified to Guinevere by the Normans. The Cornish form, Jennifer, was little known outside of Cornwall (although it was found occasionally) until the twentieth century. A turning point may have been George Bernard Shaw’s play The Doctor’s Dilemma, written in 1905, which contained a character named Jennifer.

Another, more important break came in 1941 when David O. Selznick turned a promising young actress, Phyllis Isley Walker, into Jennifer Jones. He chose Jennifer because it was unusual, but not too fancy. In 1943 she won Best Actress for The Song of Bernadette.

The name took off in the forties and skyrocketed in popularity, becoming the favorite name for girls from 1970 to 1984 in the United States.

I guess I'll just stick to Jiea. I believe that everyone knows at least one Jennifer and I don't like the idea of having the same name with other people.