Taniyah McAllister
9/21/23                                          

                    The Name I Questioned

   I decided to not pass down an object, but a name.   A name that  has always been a question for me because I never knew what was the true meaning behind it, or why it got passed down to me, or how who came up with it in the first place. My full name is Taniyah Kamryn Zenee McAllister and my 2nd middle name Zenee has been passed down to me from my mother, which was passed down to her from my grandmother, and I plan to keep up with the tradition. (not any time soon of course).

The Origin name and meaning is actually unknown from all of the sites I researched, so I became curious and asked my Great-Grandmother how she came up with the name Zenee in the first place? Why give it to my Grandmother? and First she said that she made up the name because back then Zenee didn’t exist yet, also she wanted a unique name that sounded spiritual, and wanted to pair well with with Tonya (My Grandmother’s 1st name) she knew it was a perfect fit. I was really appalled when I heard her side of the story about how she just made up a name out of thin air that sounded beautiful.

 After I interviewed My Great- Grandmother, I decided I should ask my mom why she kept up with the tradition and pass down the name to me. Well she said it was because she wanted to choose my Middle name since My grandmother and Aunt turned down all of her Ideas for my first name, she also gave me the name because she “thought” I was gonna be her only child. She was wrong. I guess I really can say my name is Unique. 

– TMA

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant