Edwin is my brother’s name. My husband’s name is also Edwin. Two Edwins dear to my heart. When we got married, my brother, Edwin, and my husband, Edwin, looked a lot like each other. Some of the guests thought they were the brothers instead of me and him as brother and sister. “Edwin” means a friend. They are.
I do not remember how we called each other when we were children, but my brother and I call each other now “Tol”, short for “utol” which is the slang for “kaputol” meaning “kaputol ng pusod” or sibling. He was the one who started calling me that when we were grown ups and were living in San Juan where we started to have “barkadas” who called each other “Tol”. I was not yet a member of the Church then.
I and my children call my husband “Dad” or “Daddy”. I used to call him “Dee” (what he said his nickname was) which sounded like the last syllable for “Daddy”. It did not take long, I called him Dad instead. I felt more comfortable with it.
The names we gave to our children and the nicknames -- by which we fondly called them and love to call them with, and by which we feel like the Good Shepherd on another tone, “’ I… know my sheep and am known of mine’ and ‘my sheep hear my voice’ calling them by their nicknames, ‘and I know them, and they follow me’”-- also have meanings and stories:
Jose Mari – My mother’s favorite TV newscaster was Jose Mari Velez, a man of integrity and intelligence. It was she who suggested this name.
Jojo - It was my mother who suggested this nickname, meaning “junior.”
Edwinson – My mother suggested this name also, meaning, “son of Edwin.”
Bim-Bim – when I was still conceiving him, my friend Fred Servo and I discussed what nickname to call him and I thought of “Beam” meaning “light”.
Dee Franklin – Dee is my husband’s nickname (that is according to him then) and Franklin is taken from the name of my father-in-law, Francisco.
Bong – We nicknamed him Bong because it sounds nice, following his elder brother’s name, Bim (Bim-Bong).
Dan Aldwin – Daniel Thomas is the name of the one who baptized me, and “Aldwin” is similar to my husband’s name, “Edwin”.
Bambi – shortened from originally “Bambino”, meaning “the child Jesus.” It also sounds nice following his two elder brothers’ nicknames, Bim-Bong (Bim-Bong-Bam).
Lois DeEtte – Lois is the wife of Daniel Thomas who baptized me. “DeEtte” is patterned from the name of a lady missionary of our Church who was then assigned to our ward, who often visited our shanty-like home (which was situated in a squatter’s area), and eventually became a dear friend, DeEtte Dickson. She was smart, and pretty and kind.
DeEtte – we chose her second name as her nickname as it sounds cuter and it was unique.
Naomi Rebekah – Naomi, a derivative of my name, Noemi. Rebecca was one of the five names (Rebecca, Pia, Noemi, Judith, Ruth) from among which my mother and grandmother chose the name to give me. The names sound powerful, that is why they liked these names. My grandmother chose "Noemi" because it has an “n” and an “m”.My mother said that according to my grandmother, when the name of a person has an “m” or an “n” in it, that person will be very successful. "Noemi" (or "Neomi" or "Naomi") means sweet and pleasant. “Rebekah”, spelled as such is based from the Bible.
May – Taken from the month May because her birthday is in May (May).
Dallin Seth – Elder Dallin H. Oaks, one of the apostles, once visited our humble home in Parang, Marikina as he requested our Stake President Ananias Bala to bring him to some family homes while they have a vacant time. He visited many houses along the way in Marikina from the Presiding Bishopric Office then and one of which is our house. So when we had another boy in the family, we named him after Elder Oaks in memory of the time that he and Elder William Bradford of the Seventy visited our house. Seth means “gift from God.” We did not expect another child after May because I had a heart attack after 14 days of giving birth to her, but he still came, a gift from God. J
Our family name, Sanchez – I love hearing that-- when my husband and my children are called with our family name. That’s us, our family. You can imagine how excited and happy and fulfilled I felt during occasions like their graduation, hearing their names with our family name, Sanchez, and seeing their names written on their graduation program and diploma with the “Sanchez” in it. I just felt like telling the whole world, “Hey, did you hear that (or do you see this) name? He/she is MY son/daughter!”
It is such a sweet and reverent feeling to remember the significance of each of the names and nicknames of our beloved family. :)
