nomenclature.

the first time i everrr saw something personalized with my name on it was this past march while on spring break in cancun. i’ve grown accustomed to passing over keychains and coffee mugs and pencils with names on them. i even found and joined a facebook group named “my mom named me _____ & i can’t even find a keychain with my name”. somewhat annoyingly, people are surprised by the fact that i have two middle names. when i tell them what my entire name is, they usually stumble over the second one and laugh at how “old” the third one is. then there are the people that ask if i’ll hyphenate my last name or drop my maiden name once i’m married since my name is so longgg *insert eye roll here*.

i’ve moved on from being aggravated with mispronunciations; my biggest issue now lies with forms that ask for my whole name, yet don’t provide enough space. anyway, here’s the meaning behind Raven Naikkim Hazel.

Raven literally means “blackbird” or “little black bird”. these meanings never did anything for me. baby name books consistenly disappointed me with them. then google revealed www.biblical-baby-names.com to me & my whole world changed. according to whomever created the site, the raven has very significant meanings in the Bible. it says: The raven was the first bird that Noah sent out of the ark. When the prophet Elijah was hidden by the brook Cherith, God commanded the ravens to supply him with food. Ravens were used by Jesus as an example of why people should believe in God. Ravens neither sow nor reap, yet they are provided with food by God. (Gen 8:7, 1Kings 17:3, Luke 12:24). amen.

Naikkim has always been a hassle. My mom always said it meant “daughter of kim” and that’s cool since my dad’s name is Kim. my problem, until very recently, was that i didn’t know what language “nai” is. so once again, i went to my dear friend google. google said b’nai means child(ren), son, or daughter in hebrew. my super duper creative mother decided to brop the “b’” portion, add an extra k to my daddy’s name & voila! you have “naikkim” meaning “daughter of kim”. kim means golden, regal hill, and ruler. so i’m the daughter of the ruler.

Hazel was my great grandma’s name, so i was never pressed to know its meaning. she gave it enough significance and importance. anyway, it’s english and derived from the color or hazelnut tree. but it is also of the Hebrew word hazā’ēl meaning “God sees.”

I am the blackbird for whom God provides, little miss runnin thangs that God sees. Raven Naikkim Hazel. i
can dig it.