Debbie or Kristine?

I had the opportunity to go to the courthouse today to be a witness for a friend who legally changed her name. As I thought about this today it got me wondering…what is in a name? Your name can be had for good or bad. When it comes down to it our name is what we make of it. Not what our parents made of it but how we live our life, are we a person of integrity and use our name for good. Will others remember us when our names are spoken with respect, love and admiration or will it leave a negative connotation? If we can learn to be a person of integrity then our names will mean something even after we are gone.

My name is Krystine Kaye Dalton Greer. I love my name. I did change it when I was 16 though. My name use to be spelled with a i instead of a y. I liked my name but I wanted to be a little different. There were so many Christines, Christys, Kristina’s, Crystals, Kristens that I wanted to make me unique in some way. So as a senior in high school I read a book where the main character’s name was Krys. I really liked it and so I started to spell my name that way. I had just moved to another school and so it was easy to change because no one challenged me and told me I was being dumb or anything because they didn’t know any different. When I told my Mom and Dad I was changing my spelling they didn’t mind. I get comments on my spelling almost daily. I love the little bit of attention it gives me and am very happy that I changed it.

I am just as proud to be a Greer as I am to be a Dalton. I use to think Greer was a strange name when I first met Scott but eventually I grew to love it as I grew to love Scott. I hope that I bring honor to both of my names. It is always my goal to live with integrity and I pray that my children and posterity will always think of my name with love.
I am grateful for my parents who gave me my name. (My mom wanted to name me Debbie but my Dad won out...Kristine Kaye Dalton was my first given name)