Week 1 - Personal History

52 weeks of personal history:

Week 1: 

What is your full name? Why did your parents give you that name?

MOM:
Hi, Everyone!

 

I thought I would do research on my name like Jeff. My full name is Beverly Jane Lloyd Meyer. Jane is a Hebrew baby name that means Gift from God. In English the meaning of the name is Jehovah has been gracious. It is a feminine form of John. The name Beverly is of old English origin meaning "Near the Meadow of the Beavers." My maiden name of Lloyd is from the Welsh adjective Llwyd, meaning grey. So, I am a grey beaver meadow gift.

My father always liked the name, Jane, so that is why I got that name. My mother's name is Beverly, and she always wanted her daughter to be named after her. I am very proud of my Welsh and Irish heritage. My mother's father was Catholic and that is why she was named Beverly. I am glad that my name carries on that tradition.

I have always been called Jane, so my mother and I wouldn't be confused. Elizabeth's middle name is Jane, so she is following our family tradition.

I am also very proud to have the name, Meyer, to carry on throughout all the eternities.

This name will connect me to all my children and their children for all time to come. Your father honored his name and was always proud of his family. Our name Meyer will always have special meaning to all of our family. 

I write this lovingly,  Mom

 

JACKIE:

Jacquelyn Marie Meyer [Wallenberg] I believe, Jacquelyn was a students name and Mom liked the old French spelling. Had a hard time spelling it at school, so when they told me how to spell Jackie, it stuck. I still love, Jacquelyn and now that I am older I think it would be fun to be called that. (Because I don't.) I sign everything mostly, with my full name. I think its really beautiful, like art. 

 

STACY:

My full name is Stacy Ann Meyer Hamm.  I was named after a student mom had with blonde hair.  Mom originally wanted to name me Jill, but grandma told her that it would be bad to have a Jack (Jackie) and a Jill.  I would have had a J name like the rest of my siblings, but I like being unique with a S name.

  

JEFF:

Hi everyone,

I thought I would try to keep my new year’s resolution this year to respond to all of my non-commercial email messages… As a result, here’s my response to your questions below:

1. My full name is Jeffrey Lloyd Sterling Meyer. I recall Mom telling me that Jeffrey had always been one of her favorite names over the years. I don’t know much more than that, other than she just really, really liked that name. In regards to my two middle names, as you know, Lloyd is Mom’s Maiden name, and Sterling is dad’s first name (which is shared by his father, Sterling Albert). Because Mom and Dad couldn’t decide on one middle name over the other, they decided to keep them both. In regards to our last name “Meyer” – I did some family history research and learned that the Meyer surname comes from the Middle German word “meiger” meaning “higher or superior” often used for stewards of landholders, great farmers, or leaseholders. The Meyer surname is also a variation of the Middle High German “Meier” which was a status name for a steward, bailiff, or overseer, which later came to be used to denote a tenant farmer, although it originally denoted a village headman (from the Latin “Maior” meaning “greater” and “superior.”) There are also Jewish roots of the Meyer surname derived from the Yiddish “Meir” which means “enlightener,” a derivative of the Hebrew or “light,” also meaning “one who shines.”

It looks like the Meyer surname has roots to the Sinai Peninsula – another testimony that we have roots to the Children of Israel.

Love,  Jeff