Trudee......The Spear Maiden! My Name is What? - Contest.

Yesterday I visited a Steemit account of a friend of mine and read with interest what he had written under his title, “My Name is What?” It was his entry to the, 'My Name is What' contest by @steemitachievers.

Here is the link with the details: https://steemit.com/mynameiswhat/@steemitachievers/my-name-is-what-a-writing-contest-by-steemitachievers

I was really enjoying reading his blog…….until I came to the part where I saw my name listed with a few others where he'd nominated us to participate in this contest. This sounded like 'effort' and 'time' to me. "Did I really want to do this?" I asked myself. I could easily have pretended to have not read this post and gone merrily on my way……but I was in a bit of a quandary. You see, I'd recently issued this particular friend a challenge, hoping he would take what I said in the right way. Thankfully he did, and he also responded promptly although he admitted to stepping out of his comfort zone in order to do it, which truly impressed me. How could I, in all good conscience not respond in kind?

So; here is my entry.

Why did I choose to use my own name as my tagname for Steemit? Probably more for authenticity than anything else. I had met quite a few Steemians in a prior social media site where I used @trudee as my tagname. They knew my style of writing and photography so it was pointless adopting a different persona. Plus,I didn't want to make things complicated for myself.

On the subject of my name: There aren’t many of us around. Trudee’s are a rare breed (and my husband will vouch for that, lol) but we do have qualities (according to the data I found) which are not too shabby if I do say, “So” myself. Before I share these with you, I will hasten to add that although much of what I found online is uncannily close to the mark, I write their words here with hesitation, knowing I would not dare saying such things about myself. And when you think about it, no-one would be interested in sourcing the meaning of their names if the negatives outweighed the positives. And we are inclined to believe only the best about ourselves aren’t we?

TRUDEE:
“Trudee is not a very commonly used name and is not ranked with in the top 1000 names………(this was not news to me.) The name Trudee has been rare throughout the last hundred years or so and ranked at 39480 position.” (I didn’t even know there were that many names available around the world.) 97 people were named Trudee so far in the last 100 years. (SSA)

The meaning of the name Trudee is, ‘Strong Spear’ or ‘Spear Maiden’ I dug this image out from one of my old albums (Or maybe I found it on Free stock images.)

“People with the name Trudee are loving and domestic. They love tranquillity and comfort. They are artistic and like quality. They work well with others and love to discuss things. They love music, and tidiness. They are confident and good healers. They are charming, intelligent, serene, generous and co-operative.”

Character Analysis: “People with the name Trudee play the role of peacemaker behind the scenes and this gives them excellent diplomatic abilities. Balance and equilibrium are their focus and their greatest successes comes through playing a supportive role and being the mediator. They are one of the most passionate people on the planet.”
(Source: babynology.com)

This paragraph came from a source called kabalarians.com and I resonated well with what they had written. It said, “Trudee you have a unique inner potential. With your first breath, a spiritual essence and purpose became a part of you, gave you life, and activated your physical growth.”

Another source backs up these words by saying, “You have God’s protection, you are sensitive, affectionate, imaginative and cooperative; spiritually aware and prone to self-sacrifice. You can keep secrets and are a good diplomat. You are honest and fair because you know that this is the only way to receive justice and honesty from other people.”

Why this resonated well with me was because I was a premature baby and nearly didn’t survive. It was touch and go for long, agonizing hours and after a very difficult delivery a tiny scrap of humanity (me) came into this world, weighing a little over 3lb!

HUNTER:
As this wasn’t a name I was born with, I don’t know how much of the following explanation I can claim……however I do acknowledge most of it as being true. Obviously, Hunter is my surname but although it means a lot to me and I was very proud to take this name when I married my dear husband it is not as significant as my middle name and this is why I’m adding my last name before my middle name.

"People with the name ‘Hunter’ are excited by change and adventure. They are dynamic, visionary and versatile and able to make constructive use of freedom. They fight being restricted by rules and conventions. They tend to be optimistic, energetic, intelligent and make friends easily."

So now we come to my middle name VERA. Yes, Vera! For many years I preferred not to share my middle name with anyone as I was embarrassed with how old fashioned it was. Well, if I thought it was old fashioned a hundred years ago……it is positively ANCIENT now.

Before I reveal to you how I overcame my dislike for the name Vera, here are some entertaining reports about what Vera means……..remember, these are not my words.

“She has people's best interests at heart, is inclined to over-worry but always remains happy and keeps others happy as well.” They go on to say……. “She has the reputation for being, the 'good girl' and she is intelligent and knows how not to get played. People are often shocked with how strong and independent a person she can be. Someone who is faithful and kind. She is extremely funny and cute.”

This is what the people from ‘urbandictionary’ finish up with. “She has the best personality and is insanely (Hmmmph!?!) hilarious.”

(Source: urbandictionary.com)

I mentioned that I nearly didn’t survive and that my mother had an extremely difficult labour. A nurse was called in to specialize me for three weeks and the woman who took care of me hour after hour with little thought to her own tiredness and well being was named………you guessed it. ‘Vera.’

My mother was eternally grateful for the sometimes round the clock attention she gave to me and had no hesitation to name me after this wonderful nurse. Interestingly enough, I became a nurse myself when I left school. Even after these incredible facts were relayed to me by my mother I still resented my middle name and like a petulant, ungrateful child, I wished the nurse, who had saved my life had a different name. My childhood friends never knew my middle name and I always managed to avoid getting into conversations when this subject was bought up. But then I grew up, fell in love and with my full name written on my marriage certificate there was no point trying to keep this a secret from my husband.

No matter how loving and nice a person is, there is something inherent in human nature that compels one to store up sensitive information to be used against another person, believing full well that it will cause a stir. My husband knew my dislike for my middle name, but stubbornly persisted in calling me Vera instead of my first given name especially when he needed attention. He got it alright but not always necessarily in the manner he was hoping for. This didn’t stop him from frequently stretching his luck to see if he could get away with it…….just one more time. Brave man!

Then one day everything changed. I had been going through a very difficult period in my life and found it hard to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Without going into detail, I was comforted by God, my Creator and this particular experience had a profound effect on my life. My Christian faith was established at very young age, so hearing from God was not unusual for me.

On this occasion God spoke very clearly to me and said, “Your middle name (which you have shunned all your life) was given to you for a reason. Don’t you know, that you share the same middle name as my Son, Jesus? For He is named, The Way, The Truth and The life.” (The name Vera is a derivative of Verity which means, ‘Truth.” It means, “Faith” in Russian and “True” in Italian.)

This revelation stopped me in my tracks and I was humbled and awed to be comforted in this way. I was wrapped in a blanket of security and love like never before. Nothing in this world could have been as effective as this in re-directing my path in positive ways and having the desired impact to remove the depression from which I had been suffering from for years. I will never forget that feeling.

I’m happy to share these personal facts with you particularly over the Easter period.

One of the questions we had to ask ourselves in this contest was, "If we had the chance to change our name would we? The answer to that question is a resounding, 'NO!'

My faith in God is stronger than ever and plays a pivotal role in who I am and what I am called. I now wear the name, Vera like a badge of honour and tears fill my eyes as I think of my dear mother who went through so much to bring me into this world. I am so thankful for God’s protection and I think again of the meaning of the name, Trudee.

“Trudee you have a unique inner potential. With your first breath, a spiritual essence and purpose became a part of you, gave you life, and activated your physical growth.”

What’s in a name? Oh, so much……..so very, very much.

How about you?
What is the meaning of your name? Anyone can enter this contest, and we are supposed to tag others so they might participate. Here are my nominee suggestions

@countrygirl
@cecicastor
@redheadpei
@allyinspirit
@aghunter
@pipurilla

All images used in this blog are from Free Stock Images.