From what I remember of my limited knowledge in this subject, names are IMPORTANT. They help us remember who someone is or what something is. Whole characters, personalities, and futures can be prophesied by the complexity of a name. So in all, names are necessary to become ones true self. But my true self is confusing. My name is Kirsten Nicole Brianna Lucas. No, I don't have two middle names. I have two first names. And, no, it is not pronounced k•ER•stin; it's pronounced k•EAR•stin. I know how my name is supposed to sound since I have been answering to it for the past 21+ years. Trust me on this, there will never be an alternate form so if I'm telling someone how to say it then that is definitely how it's said. Yes, I know there are other Kirstens' in the world and they might spell and/or say their name different from mine but I like the original way. The way I have had it since birth.

Just like some names out there, mine is unique in multiple ways. One example- I have only met three Kirsten's' in my life. The youngest was a four-year-old. Her mother happened to hear my mother call me from a neighboring aisle at the grocery store. They spent 20 minutes just talking about the name while I was standing quietly by my mom wishing we could leave already. The other two girls were older than me, but only by a year or two. The one I happened to meet in high school in an oceanography class. We both liked animals and Edgar Allan Poe, which was a strong coincidence. The other was an older sister of a JV cheerleader. She had extremely curly strawberry blonde hair and a face full of freckles. Only two of the three spelled and said their names like I did mine.

All three of the girls are white, which is a common race for the name to belong to. The same can't be said for me. A black girl named Kirsten is a strange phenomenon to some people. It's unusual and it obviously means I need to act like something other than my race. At least that's what most of my peers in middle and high school thought, but that wasn't important. What was important was that I liked my name. I like how it sounds whenever someone calls it out, and how people become shocked at the fact that someone like me would have such a beautiful name. Just recently it came to my attention that I do have a great name and it does fit my personality. It's a name that is unique, unheard of and fantastic; like I am. My name was beautifully and wonderfully made just for me.