What's in a name? A tale of self acceptance and a random act of kindness

When I was quite smol, I didn't like my name. People mispronounced it and spelled it wrong. It became very important to me to find a personalized souvenir with my name on it!🥰 This proved almost impossible.

Finally, at a craft fair, my mom came across an artisan who offered to paint a custom poster with my name and a little poem on it. I was over the moon! I still have it. I wish I knew who they were so I could let them know how much joy their kind offer and little calligraphy watercolor painting brought to me over the years. 🌞 The poem reads:

𝑳𝑨𝑹𝑰𝑺𝑺𝑨 𝑶𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒏 𝑺𝒐 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒐𝒏𝒆

xo. My name means "cheerful" and "princess." Some sources say it translates to "citadel." Larissa is also a small island in Thessaly, Greece, a water nymph in Greek mythology, and the name of #neptune's 5th moon. It's a popular name in Russia and Brazil, but so rarely used in the USA that it hasn't been included on the SSA'S name popularity charts since 2012, when 1 in 852 baby girls were named Larissa.

I've grown to love my name and appreciate its uniqueness! 💜 I've only ever met a handful of other Larissas in the wild and I get pretty excited about it lol. Most recently, I met one in the elevator in 2012, and one was working at a thrift shop I frequented about 3 or 4 years ago.

As a writer, I'm always on the hunt for interesting and unique names! I used to read baby name books for fun. How did you get your name, and what does it mean?