“Muddy Place” and “Ditch” (Meehan). These words don’t seem like good meanings you would want for a name but apparently, my parents would disagree. I initially thought my parents were unaware of the real meaning of my name until I called my mom and asked if she knew the Irish meaning of my name. She laughed and said “ditch digger.” Not exactly what I wanted to hear about my name… My parents value interesting names which is why they named me something they hadn’t heard that much before. However, Brody was not the first name that came to mind. They originally wanted to name me Brady, but a troublemaking family friend with the same name, who was a few years older than me, deterred them.  

When I introduce myself, people often say things like “You would be a Brody'' or “Yeah of course you're a Brody.” Which I guess means other people think my name fits me well. I think it's the long hair. Not that many people I’ve talked to have known other Brodys but I feel like they associate the name with surfers or skaters from California. I usually take this as a compliment because that type of person is typically thought of as being chill or laid back. This can be nice, but sometimes it is annoying because I feel like I have to live up to people's expectations of my name and try to be someone I’m not. 

I understand my parent’s rationale for choosing a name that is more unique because having the same name as a bunch of other people can get annoying. I would get it except that both my sister and brother have names significantly more common than me. Cole, my brother's name was number 75 when he was born and my sister's name Margaret was just outside the top 100 (“Popularity”). When I was born my name was almost 200. It just makes me wonder why they chose to name me a much more unique name after naming my two older siblings much more common names. 

Researching my name helped me realize that I don’t need to fall into the traits associated with my name. If I want to be more relaxed I will. If I don’t want to then I won’t. I also definitely do not want to dig ditches. I am not going to let my life get affected by the arbitrary meanings of my name.

Meehan, A. (2023, September 15). Brody. Brody - Baby Name Meaning, Origin and Popularity.

 https://www.thebump.com/b/brody-baby-name 

“Popularity of Name Brody” The United States Social Security Administration. (2022). 

https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi 

“Popularity of Name Cole” The United States Social Security Administration. (2022). 

https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi 

“Popularity of Name Margaret” The United States Social Security Administration. (2022). 

https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi