My name is a duality. The meanings of my first and last name are opposites and clash like a yin-yang symbol. My first name is Daniel. Daniel means “Beautiful,” and “God is my judge,” and has roots in Welsh, Irish, and Hebrew (Daniel). Daniel also appears in the bible and was the 7th most popular name for a boy in my birth year, 2004, according to the Official Social Security Website. The name Daniel has clearly defined origins and interpretations from throughout history. 

However, my last name, Leferman, is much more unique than my first name. Even my laptop thinks I made a spelling mistake when I type Leferman. My whole life my teachers have not been able to pronounce my last name, they always pronounce it as “Leaferman.” It is so rare that every website I checked did not have a meaning for it. After doing some research, only 77 people share my last name, and it is most common in Romania according to Forebears. Its popularity in Romanian makes sense since my dad is Romanian. After I researched the meaning and origin of my name, I wondered if my family had any insight into my name. I did not know if they named me after someone or if my parents picked Daniel because they knew its origins. So, I asked my parents why they named me Daniel, and their reason was that it sounded nice with our last name. Which was disappointing to hear after all this research. But I still found out that my surname and first name are vastly different and the only thing they have in common is me. The first name Daniel is extremely common, and I personally knew 3 others Daniels in high school, and who knows how many Daniels are at the University of MIchigan, while there are less than 100 Lefermans on the planet (Leferman). Leferman has no meaning or origins, and Daniel dates back to the bible. So, I guess it is up to me and my family to give Leferman a meaning, and who knows what meaning it might have? 

Works Cited 

Daniel, She Knows, https://www.sheknows.com/baby-names/name/daniel/ 

"leferman Surname”, Forebears, https://forebears.io/surnames/leferman#place-tab-2014 

Social Security, "Popular Names in 2004”, Official Social Security Website, https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/popularnames.cgi