College essays...

Name significance (final draft)

Edited
My name? My name is Amanda. It means "the most loved". I tried finding out why my parents chose that name for me. My mother said that as soon as she found out what it meant, she decided Amanda was going to be my name. She also said she heard it in the song "Mambo No. 5". Come to find out, the name is not in the lyrics. Maybe she dreamed it.

Growing up I never liked my name. I always thought it wasn't "cool" enough and that people didn't like it. It seemed that every villain in movies and soap operas was named Amanda. Thinking it was such a common name, I wanted a more unique one, not Amanda. I thought I needed a new name to be unique, I was completely wrong. In first grade my English teacher decided to give me a nickname, Mandy. Having a nickname made me feel special, unique even. Since that day everyone calls me Mandy.

I started disliking the name Amanda even more when I moved to South Dakota. Being used to the Spanish pronunciation, it took me some time to get used to the English pronunciation. I liked the English pronunciation of Mandy better, so I introduced myself to everyone as Mandy, not Amanda. I started liking my name a couple years ago. I was listening to the Pandora radio when a song came up that kept saying my name. I had never heard a song that had my name in it. I didn't think the name Amanda was special or unique enough to have a song. Needless to say, I was very surprised. The song is called "Amanda" by Boston. At that moment I realized my name was "cool" and that it didn't matter what people thought of it because, if I liked it, that was all that mattered. As years passed, I became more and more appreciative of my name. I guess it's part of growing up and accepting myself. I realized that my name is pronounced similarly in almost every language. I also noticed that since Amanda is a popular name, it is easier for other people to remember. These two factors will help me in my future endeavors, when I travel the world meeting new and important people. Currently, I would like more people to call me Amanda, although I still go mostly by Mandy. Realizing the positive points about my name made me fall in love with it.

You show your uniqueness with your thoughts, words and actions. People are going to see you, and appreciate you, for who you are, not by how common your name is. In this day and age, people are so caught up in what others are going to think of them, they forget that being yourself is what makes you unique and moves you forward, making you stand out.
Most importantly, being and loving yourself will make you shine!