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By Jennifer Joe What Does My Name Say About Me? People have called me Jennifer Christina Joe for twenty-one years now, yet up until now I have never bothered to find out the meaning of my name. I have always wished that I had a more unique name. Every time someone calls out my name, I turn my head and so do five or six other people. I always thought it would be nice to have a name that hardly anyone else had. After doing a little research, I found out that my name was not as common as I had originally thought. As a third generation Chinese-American, my family is very Americanized. My parents have American names, so it was fitting for me to have an American name as well. My parents chose the name "Jennifer" because during the year of 1975, "Jennifer" was one of the most common names for girls. They had many friends with daughters named "Jennifer," and they liked it so much that it became my name as well. Looking through a dictionary, I found out that "Jennifer" means lovely. The loveliness shines through from within -- showing your inner beauty. Lovely because you show kindness and charm. Lovely because you are a positive person and have a bright outlook of the future. I tried finding out the origin of my last name "Joe." I asked my parents as well as my grandparents, but no one knew the exact meaning of "Joe." In Chinese it is pronounced like "Jew." Our last name has been in our family for several generations. It is definitely not a common last name for a Chinese family. People always question my nationality when they hear my last name. Most people assume it is a non-Asian last name because it is rare and hardly heard of. In my free time I hope to some day find out the origin and meaning of our last name "Joe." Last names can tell us a lot about a family's history and background. After completing this assignment, I realized that everyone's name is unique -- whether it be their first, middle, last name, or nickname. I thought my name was common, but I learned that it is unique in its own way. A name can tell a lot about a person -- where they're from and who they are. (Jennifer Joe is a senior majoring in Economics.)