"What' In A Name"

Hello,
My name is Chartamia Janae Turner but to everyone I am known as Shay. Where do I begin? Yes, I was born the 22nd of April, 1991 at the University of Chicago Hospital( and yes the Obama girls were born there) to a beautiful and wonderful woman named Mozena. Now your probably wondering where the name Chartamia came from? It's not a foreign name, or the name of a little Caribbean Island, it's not an alcoholic beverage, or a tribal name. Then where does it come from, your probably wondering? To be honest, I don't have a clue. The story I have been told is, my name came from another little girl named Chartamia. This girl should be in her mid-twenties. Back to my name, when my mother found out I was going to be a girl and not boy, she hadn't thought of what to name me. So my mom's friend, who is my Godmother said she would name me. So one day my Godmother and Godsister are in a clothing store and an older woman is yelling at child called "Chartamia" to stop playing in the racks of clothing. Well my Godmother wanted to name me something beautiful and Chartamia was up to her standard of a beautiful name. My godmother told me she saw the little girl pop out of the clothing, "and she was the cutest little girl you'd ever seen",so she had to get the name because she knew I was going to be a beautiful baby. She went to the older woman and ask her what was her granddaugthers name again and the lady said,"Chartamia". So my godmother told her the story of my mom having a girl and she hadn't picked out a name yet, and she thought the name Chartamia was so beautiful. The older woman gave my godmother the spelling and pronouncation of the name. Then my godmother took it to my mom and told her how to spell and pronounce it. That is how I got the name Chartamia.

The nickname Shay came along because Chartamia is a mouth full to say(how on earth did I learn to spell a name like that at two). My family thought my name was to hard to pronounce. So my mom gave the suggestion of them calling me "Char", but even that was to hard for them. So they kept at it until one of my aunts came up with the name "Shay". Chartamia is nowhere near close to Shay, but I have been Shay ever since. Do I like my name? Sometimes yes/no. I like because its different, how many Chartamia's are going to be in a room, not many. Then, there are times I don't like it because most times people butcher it. They call me Chartamaea, Chattmra, Chertemia, Chaertemia. It's really its not that hard to pronounce Char-ta-m-ia, four syllables. Even my principal for Graduation rehearsal buthcered my name, thank god it was rehearsal. Shay is alot easier to say, remember and easier to write, only four letters compared to nine. What I also like about others not knowing my name is that, I get to keep it to myself and between the other few selected Chartamia's ,and we don't have to worry about people naming their babies after us. Who wants to name their baby a nine letter name that's not common and their poor kid will never be able to find the meaning of it or it's origin; not even a license plate sticker with their name. I don't know to many. So now you know my name, and I hope you remember it because it will be in shining lights. At least the Shay will be and Chartamia will stay to me.