What's in a name?

Summary

Podcast Summary: “What’s in a Name?”

Podcast: Today, Explained (Vox)
Air Date: July 19, 2026
Host: Jonquillen Hill (JQ)
Main Guests: Taylor Humphrey (baby name consultant), Cleveland Kent Evans (“Cleve”, onomastician), Jonquillen Hill’s parents, and various contributors sharing name stories.

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the meaning, history, and culture behind personal names: how they're chosen, why certain names become popular, the societal and family dynamics at play, and the emotional weight names can carry. Through a mix of expert interviews and personal anecdotes, the show unpacks the complex forces shaping what we call ourselves—and what those choices say about identity, tradition, and creativity.

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Segment 1: The Power and Stories of Names

Timestamps: 01:06–03:23

• The episode opens with listeners sharing stories about their unique or meaningful names.
• JQ highlights the unusual frequency of one name among athletes: “Have you ever noticed there are a lot of professional athletes named Jalen?” (01:22)
• Various sports examples are mentioned—NBA, NFL, even NHL.
• JQ reflects: “If your name is Jalen, are you just destined for athletic greatness? Probably not, but each of our names does tell a story.” (01:59)
• Contributors share origin stories, including names with cultural or familial significance (e.g., a name meaning “beloved” in Punjabi, or naming after a family passion, like “Brooke” from brook trout).

Notable Quotes

• “My name is Cameron, and I think that it is one of the greatest gifts that my parents ever gave me.” (02:11, Cameron)
• “My name is Punjabi for beloved and it has served as a constant reminder of the importance of love and connection.” (02:16)

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Segment 2: How Baby Names Are Picked & Trends

Timestamps: 03:23–09:46

• Guest: Taylor Humphrey, baby name consultant
• Taylor discusses how she helps parents consider family history, values, and teamwork in naming:
  • “It’s very important for parents to treat the process of baby naming as almost this new way of getting to know each other... names hold such deep, special spiritual value in our lives.” (03:36, Taylor)
• Trends: Current popular names feature “long I” sounds (Isla, Ivy, Ilani, Maya, Kaya). Ilani was last year’s fastest-rising name. (04:26)
• JQ shares her own list of potential baby names and gets feedback:
  • “Rosavia” praised for its rarity and “romantic V” sound (05:26)
  • “Johnny” (for a girl) is seen as an “underutilized” and vintage-chic choice (06:00)
  • “Jania,” inspired by her parents’ alternative pick, shows the blending of unique and traditional.
• Taylor recommends letting the baby’s reaction help guide the final decision—sharing a story where a newborn “smiled” when hearing their ultimate chosen name for the first time (08:42).

Notable Quotes

• “You really need to be tender and open-hearted about these conversations because names hold ... such deep, special spiritual value in our lives.” (03:38, Taylor)
• “The truth of this baby is that this baby’s name should be this. ... What is the name that best aligns with the spirit of this child that’s coming in?” (09:47, Taylor)

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Segment 3: Why So Many Liams? Where Do Popular Names Come From?

Timestamps: 10:29–19:53

• Guest: Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve), ex-president of the American Name Society, columnist
• Cleve explores American individualism: “What I hear most often from parents is we want to find a name which is different but not too different…” (13:33)
• Ironically, parents choosing the most popular names are “probably more different than average...because they don’t care that they’re giving the kids the popular names.” (14:03)
• Impact of Race: The African American community’s naming conventions shifted in the 1960s as unique names became a source of pride and identity (e.g., “La-” names in the ‘60s-’70s, “Sha-” in the ‘90s).
  • “Many black people said, we are the people who give our children unique names to show how much we love them, to show how valued they are.” (15:00, Cleve)
• Impact of Class: Highly educated parents tend to revive “old” or classic names; blue-collar families often gravitate to newly invented or unconventional names (e.g., “Brittany,” “Bentley”).
• The Hollywood Feedback Loop: Screenwriters, often college-educated, popularize certain names through characters—these surge in popularity at cultural inflection points (e.g., “Tristan” post-Legends of the Fall, “Bentley” after 16 and Pregnant).
• Cleve’s naming advice: Don’t stress—choose a name with meaning and teach the child its importance. “There is no such thing as either the perfect parent or the perfect child. There’s no such thing as the perfect name.” (20:07, Cleve)

Notable Quotes

• “Things do not go from zero to top 10 overnight. ... It’s the ‘Hollywood feedback loop’.” (17:24, Cleve)
• “You should think: How are you going to give a message to the child as to what name you want to give them?” (21:20, Cleve)

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Segment 4: The Meaning of Your Own Name

Timestamps: 22:45–28:49

• Listeners and contributors describe their deeply personal experiences with their names:
  • Reagan: “As I grew more awake to the things the Reagan administration had done, it completely changed who I was and how I viewed my name. I started going by Ray.” (22:49, Reagan)
  • Susan: Initially disliked her name, but after learning it was her mother’s original name (before adoption), it gained new, heartfelt meaning. (23:43)
  • Falashade: Shares the pride—and the challenges—of having a rare Yoruba name. (24:56)
• Host’s Story: JQ interviews her parents about the origins of “Jonquillen Rosavia.” Her father drew inspiration from a flower (“jonquil”), and her mother combined two family names for “Rosavia.”
  • “The jonquil comes out, you know, in the springtime, and it’s abundant when it does come out, it’s kind of dainty when you look at it. And so that led to that first part of your name.” (26:35, John D. Hill)
  • Her mother added, “My father had two sisters, Rose and Octavia, and I just combined them. Rosavia. So you became Jonquillen Rosavia Hill.” (27:33, Deborah Hill)
• The family values reflected in naming—honoring the past, while also making space for each new individual.

Memorable Moments

• JQ: “That’s really sweet. I’m getting kind of emotional. I’m not going to lie to you.” (28:33)
• When JQ mentions wanting to use “Johnny” for a girl, both parents support her independent choice:
  • “If that’s your choice...” (28:57, John D. Hill)
  • “I know that’s right.” (29:03, Deborah Hill)

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Closing Reflections

• The episode closes with gratitude for listeners’ stories and a teaser for an upcoming episode about perimenopause.
• JQ reflects on the beauty, complexity, and power of names—and affirms that, while family and culture matter deeply, ultimately, our names are ours to live with, interpret, and proudly own.

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Key Takeaways

• Names are stories: Whether gifted, inherited, or chosen, names reflect family history, culture, and personal meaning.
• There’s no “perfect” name: Uniqueness, tradition, and popularity swirl together in every generation’s naming trends.
• Cultural, social, and media influences: Naming conventions shift with politics (e.g., “La-” and “Sha-” names), class, and especially pop culture and media.
• Emotional and identity weight: Names can evoke pride, trauma, confusion, or joy—and sometimes, we grow into (or away from) them.

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Noteworthy Quotes and Timestamps

• “If your name is Jalen, are you just destined for athletic greatness? Probably not, but each of our names does tell a story.” (01:59, Jonquillen Hill)
• “It’s a way that we are world-building in our own minds about who we are and what kind of children we’re going to raise.” (03:40, Taylor Humphrey)
• “Many black people said, we are the people who give our children unique names to show how much we love them, to show how valued they are.” (15:00, Cleve)
• “There’s no such thing as the perfect name...you shouldn’t think that you have ruined their life by giving them the wrong name.” (20:07, Cleve)
• “You are your own person as well, and you really don’t have to live up to anyone else. You are free to choose what you do and everything.” (28:02, John D. Hill)

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For Listeners:

This episode is a thoughtful dive into the magic, mess, and meaning of names—perfect for anyone who’s ever wondered about their own, tossed around baby name lists, or marveled at how pop culture, family, and history guide what appears on the world’s birth certificates and beyond.

Transcript

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[Various Name Story Contributors (e.g., Vienna, Cameron, Kiki, Reagan, Susan, Falashade)]

My name is Vienna, like the Song City or Sausage. Not Elizabeth, not Bethany, just Beth. I like to think that it connects me to my family, but also maybe I just embraced my weirdness.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Have you ever noticed there are a lot of professional athletes named Jalen?

[John D. Hill]

Why so many Jalens in the NBA?

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

I think it's way many Jaylen's in the NBA. There's Jaylen Williams, Jaylen Brown, Jaylen Johnson, and of course Jaylen Brunson. And over in the NFL, Jalen hurts

[Taylor Humphrey]

Jalen Carter, Jalen Ramsey with the interception.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Even the NHL has a Jaylen.

[Taylor Humphrey]

Jaylen Chatfield puts Carolina up one nothing.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Were all their parents just really huge fans of 90s basketball?

[Various Name Story Contributors (e.g., Vienna, Cameron, Kiki, Reagan, Susan, Falashade)]

Jalen rose for three

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

and more importantly, if your name is Jalen, are you just destined for athletic greatness? Probably not, but each of our names does tell a story.

[Various Name Story Contributors (e.g., Vienna, Cameron, Kiki, Reagan, Susan, Falashade)]

My name is Cameron and I think that it is one of the greatest gifts that my parents ever gave me. My name is Breathe. My name is Punjabi for beloved and it has served as a constant reminder of the importance of love and connection. My name is based on like the brook trout because my family is really into fishing. So my name is Brooke B R O O K with no E. His mom, when she was pregnant got visited in her dreams by the devil and the devil said you cannot be named after your grandfather and my mother wanted to name me Michelle Dionne and the nurse said no, we have enough Michelle's she's going to be a Valerie. What's in a name?

[John D. Hill]

Craig with a K has proven to

[Various Name Story Contributors (e.g., Vienna, Cameron, Kiki, Reagan, Susan, Falashade)]

make me Unforgett, certainly.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

I'm Jonquillen Rosavia Hill. And this week on Explain it to me from Vox. The history, the hottest trends, and all the mysterious forces that shape what we call ourselves. Most of the time, though, our names are chosen for us, usually by our parents. And sometimes they get a little help.

[Taylor Humphrey]

My name is Taylor Humphrey and I help parents pick the perfect names for their babies.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Taylor considers your family tree, your life story, your love story, but she says naming your kid should be a team effort.

[Taylor Humphrey]

I think it's very important for parents to treat the process of baby naming as almost this new way of getting to know each other. It's like you really need to be tender and open hearted about these conversations because names hold, hold such deep, special spiritual value in our lives. And it's a way that we are world building in our own minds about who we are and what kind of children we're going to raise. And I think it says so much about who we believe ourselves to be.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Okay, it is currently summer 2026. What are the hottest baby names right now?

[Taylor Humphrey]

Well, I will say that the highest rising name of last year was a name I had never really heard it before. It's Ilani A I L A N Y, Ailani. It swept the popularity charts. It, it rose a lot. And it's falling into a category that I call kind of the long I names. So names like Isla, Ivy, Ilani, Maya, Kaya. So anything that has that I sound in it. And parents are really, really gravitating towards these names with the long vowel sounds.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

I would love to know what you think of my, like, list of baby names. Granted, I have no kids. Children are amazing, but, you know, just not at that stage of life at the moment.

[Taylor Humphrey]

I hear you. I hear you.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Okay. The first one is actually my middle name and it is Rosavia.

[Taylor Humphrey]

Oh, my gosh, that is so romantic. It fits into this category of these, like, V names. So we've got Avery, Ava, Everly, Vivian. I think that that is a great name. Nobody has used this name or less than five people have used this name in the United States in 2025.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Okay, good. A little original. That brings me to baby name number two. And it's Johnny, but an ie for a girl.

[Taylor Humphrey]

Johnny is actually, in my opinion, very underutilized for girls. And I think it is such a great way to honor a, you know, grandpa. Jonathan, John, Jack. Like, it is so cute. And it does really follow one huge trend that I'm seeing right now, which I would call kind of grandpa nicknames. For little girls. So that would be names like Scotty and Frankie, Charlie, Andy, Johnny, Marty. I think that they have this like, quaint little vintage charm to them, but they're still so sassy and I just love them.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Okay. And then my third and final name is actually one that I stole from my parents. I'm an only child. But they were like, oh, if you ever had a sister, we would have named her Jania. And I'm like, well, I'll borrow that.

[Taylor Humphrey]

Janiyah is so cute too. Again with these I names. Let's use Jania as an example where one parent loves these vowel heavy, romantic, very unique names and the other parent is like, well, we want something kind of like modern and easy and cool, spunky, whatever. You could go with a name like Jones or Josiah and you could use that for a little girl, which I think would be kind of cool. Oh, that might be a way that, you know, you kind of combine these two preferences and find something that feels really aligned for you and your family, where it's like you're finding creative ways to honor the people that you love or to honor the names that you've just loved forever.

[Deborah Hill]

Mm.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

What tips do you have for parents who are like, I do not know what I'm about to name this child who are having a hard time?

[Taylor Humphrey]

I think a lot of parents work themselves into a tizzy and then they get there and they've delivered their baby. And the nurses keep coming in saying, like, we have to sign the birth certificate, We've gotta submit this. You know, they need their Social Security card. Like, we gotta get the ball rolling. And there's just so much pressure. If you're the parent who has not chosen a baby name and you're at the hospital and you're really worried about this, I actually think that your baby can greatly help you to choose that name to make that final choice on a name. I had the most beautiful. Oh my gosh. Just one of the most really beautiful life changing consultations with a client. She had been considering a name her entire pregnancy. The father liked it, but wasn't totally on board. And the baby is born and we jump on a FaceTime call. And I asked the mom, just, we're going to go through the list, right? And we're going to say the full name as you want it to be. We're going to go one by one and we're just going to say it quietly, calmly. We're going to say it a couple of times and we're just going to watch your baby's face and see how they react to the sound of these names that you're saying. The baby's asleep. So you can kind of see like his lip curl or kind of like he's like making these like little cute micro expressions. They're so cute. He kind of passes some gas. Like he seems a little fussy at times, but he's like mostly just sleeping as we're doing this exercise. And of course we're saving the best for last. We're saving that name, that mom. The whole pregnancy was like, I just really want this full name. And we get to the name and she's saying it and he opens his eyes and smiles. I swear to God.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Oh my God.

[Taylor Humphrey]

To this day it was the most beautiful experience probably of like my time as a baby name consultant. It was like, oh, this is. We're just in the presence of truth. Like the truth of this baby is that this baby's name should be this. And I think like that is what I would hope every parent who really is ruminating about a name comes to which is like, what is the truth of who this baby is? You know, what is the name that best aligns with the spirit of this child that's coming in?

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

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[Various Name Story Contributors (e.g., Vienna, Cameron, Kiki, Reagan, Susan, Falashade)]

I'm Kiki as I've had that name my entire life. Okay. And then I was a middle school girl, and then that Drake song came out. Now whenever I introduce myself to anyone who is, like, between the ages of, like, let's call it, like, 12 and, like, 30, now, every single one of them goes. And I'm like, yeah, that's the song. Yes. Just like the song.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

I'm JQ back with more. Explain it to me. And today we're asking, where do our names come from? And what do they tell the world about who we are?

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

My full name is Cleveland Kent Evans.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

He's named after both his grandfathers. His friends call him Cleve.

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

In American culture, individualism is so strong. You know, what I hear most often from parents is we want to find a name which is different but not too different. You know, we want a name that will be unique, quote, unquote, but that everybody will like, you know, so they won't get teased about it.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Cleave is the former president of the American Name Society, and he writes a column for the Omaha World Herald about what names are popular and why.

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

And so, ironically, I think the people who give their kids the most popular names are probably more different than average from the general population than other people, because they don't care that they're giving the kids the popular names.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

That is so funny. Okay, so we have this, you know, very American, individualized kind of outlook when it comes to names. I would love to get into how other social factors shape how we name people. How does race shape our names?

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

Oh, well, of course, the African American community has had a very different experience with naming since the 1960s. If you go back before the 1960s, unfortunately, prejudiced, racist people, one of the things they used to say about black people was, they have funny names, quote, unquote. Statistically, before 1960, that wasn't really true, or it was just, like, barely true. It was like black people had names that were, like, 1 or 2% more unusual than white People, it was very small. And what happened in the 60s was as part of black power, as sometimes happens with other things, with minorities that are persecuted, they sort of turned what had been a negative into a positive. And many people, especially in large cities in the us, many black people said, we are the people who give our children unique names to show how much we love them, to show how valued they are. And that's when you got the tradition of creating new names and where instead of the individual names necessarily being what went through fashions, it was the syllables they were made out of. And so at the beginning, like in the 60s and 70s for girls, the most common prefix was la. And so you had, you know, lakeisha, latasha, latoya, you know.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Oh, yeah.

[Deborah Hill]

Etc.

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

And then in, around the, in the 90s, the most popular prefix was shah. And so you had shanice, Shaquita, you know.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm thinking back to elementary school. Lots of sha names, now that I think about it. How does class show up in the way we pick names?

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

People who are highly educated want new names for their kids, but for them, they have to find something that has a history in the culture. So they're the ones that go back and revive the old names. While blue collar people are more interested in stuff which is new, which is even, you know, outside the African American community, things which are newly invented or things which have not been girls or children's names until recently, they're more attracted to. So it's like in your age group, is Britney, you know?

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Yeah. Oh my gosh, so many Britneys.

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

Yes. Is 100%. You know, you're going to be able to find some PhD or MD somewhere who named their daughter Brittany, you know, but blue collar people would have been more attracted to that because it was just a province in France, you know,

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

how do names become popular?

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

Things do not go from zero to top 10 overnight. But what happens is you have often what I call the Hollywood feedback loop. People will start bringing back names, and especially with some of these revival names, you know, the screenwriters in Hollywood tend to be college educated people. And so they very often are going to give their characters names which are too young for them because they name their characters like they would name a kid, you know. And so what happens is that the screenwriter's name characters that. That presents the name to the whole population and then all of a sudden it shoots up. An example of something sort of changing social class that way was Tristan, where Tristan sort of first came up among more educated people. And there Was a character on the original All Creatures Great and Small.

[Taylor Humphrey]

Tristan.

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

Oh, Trace, it's grand to see you. And there were boys being named Tristan. And then you have the movie Legends of the Fall with Brad Pitt playing the character Tristan.

[John D. Hill]

Damn you, Tristan, you will marry her.

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

All of a sudden, the name shoots up. I mean, it had been rising slowly, you know, as in boy's name. Blue collar people started naming their sons Tristan because of that movie. So it was not just the educated people who were anymore. Very suddenly, you know, at that point, One of the hugest increases just because of television was a few years ago, there was a. About 2008, I think there was a program on one of the cable TV networks called 16 and Pregnant.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, I know the ancient texts. Yes.

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

One of the first babies born on that show was a boy named Bentley.

[Taylor Humphrey]

You know what your name, Bentley Cadence.

[Deborah Hill]

I don't know. Ryan found it in a baby book.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

I know Bentley. I've been keeping up with Macy and Bentley. Yes.

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

But the name Bentley for baby boys was like, one of the fastest growing boys names ever. Bentley. Wow. It went from almost nothing to within about three years, being like 75th most common name for boys in the U.S. bentley.

[Taylor Humphrey]

I'm not. This is not a joke.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

What advice do you have for people out there who are like, oh, my gosh, like, I gotta name this kid. What am I gonna do? Like, how should people be approaching it? How should they be thinking about it?

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

First of all, they shouldn't worry about it too much. You know, I got a communication from a woman who had an uncle who she really loved and really admired, whose name was Floyd.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Yeah.

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

And so she said, can I really name my son Floyd? Won't he be teased too much? And what I told her, look, you really love this uncle. What you do is you name your son Floyd. But then from the very beginning, you tell him why you named him that and why his great uncle Floyd was a marvelous person and why you loved him so much and make him proud of it, you know, to protect him from the teasing. Just like there is no such thing as either the perfect parent or the perfect child. There's no such thing as the perfect name. You know, there are lots of different names that would work equally well for your child. And you shouldn't think that you have ruined their life by giving them the wrong name, quote unquote. You know, I guess I tell most people, you know, think of it like, you know, how are you going to give a message to the child as to what name you want to give them?

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

What is the message that your name gives you? That's next.

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[Taylor Humphrey]

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[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

We're back. I'm JQ or John Kulin.

[Various Name Story Contributors (e.g., Vienna, Cameron, Kiki, Reagan, Susan, Falashade)]

My name is Reagan. My parents never outright told me I was named after the President. However, they are conservative and we're big fans of the Reagan Administration. I am grateful to have a gender neutral name. I do believe that it's strong and beautiful. However, as I grew more awake to the things the Reagan administration had done, it completely changed who I was and how I viewed my name. I started going by Ray. It caused quite a bit of friction between me and my parents. Maybe one day I'll go by my full name again. However, this is who I am.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

We asked you for the stories behind your names and y' all delivered. Some of you, like Ray, have chosen new names. Others have had to wrestle with what to do with the ones they were born with.

[Various Name Story Contributors (e.g., Vienna, Cameron, Kiki, Reagan, Susan, Falashade)]

Hi. So my name is Susan and I grew up absolutely hating my name. Mostly because we watched a lot of Wheel of Fortune as children. And then the people named Susan growing up that were on the Wheel of Fortune were always these older housewives a little bit frumpier. And so that's what I associated with the name Susan. Well, fast Forward to my mid-20s and my grandmother tells me that my mother's birth name was actually Susan. She was adopted and my grandmother adopted her. She renamed her and now the name Susan holds a very different meaning and Value in my heart. My name is Falashade. That is a Yoruba name from Nigeria. I am named after my dad's late sister who died in childhood from sickle cell disease. But either way, I've always really loved my name. I do have the trouble of getting people to pronounce my name correctly. And sometimes there's a little bit of friction when people try and give me a nickname off the bat, which I don't appreciate. Other people have told me that they've met other folashed and I've met in Aluwasha day. But I'm the only philosode that I know personally, and I couldn't imagine being any other name.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

I've actually encountered only one other Jonquillan in my entire life. And I wanted to know why my name is so rare. So I called up the two people who know best.

[Deborah Hill]

I'm Deborah Hill. I'm your mother.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Yes, you are my mom.

[John D. Hill]

I am John D. Hill, Joclyn's father.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

And one thing you need to know before you hear the story is that there aren't a lot of women on my dad's side of the family.

[John D. Hill]

When you were born, I did ask the doctor a question. He said, it's a girl. And I said, doc, are you sure? And he said, I've delivered enough of them to know the difference between a

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

boy and a girl.

[John D. Hill]

And so mom was on the gurney, the doctors handed you to me, and it was like, I have not thought about any girl's name, but mom had some. Some girls names in mind.

[Deborah Hill]

The only name that I had was Elizabeth Ann, because that was Elizabeth Ann after both my grandmothers. And your father didn't like that name. And my mother, she said, there's too many Elizabeths in the family. So she said, no, you're gonna have to come up with something different.

[John D. Hill]

I wanted my name in there. I was gonna get John in there some kind of way. All I knew was I did not want a Johnetta, a Johnny Mae, any of those. And as I looked at things a little bit further, I found out there was a jonquil plant. And the jonquil comes out, you know, in the springtime, and it's abundant when it does come out, it's kind of dainty when you look at it. And so that led to that first part of your name.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Mama, what did you think of that?

[Deborah Hill]

I liked when your father said, jonquil, and my sister's name is Carolyn. And I said, I have to have part of her name in there. And so he picked your first name, and I picked your middle name.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Yeah. Tell the story of my middle name.

[Deborah Hill]

My father had two sisters, Rose and Octavia, and I just combined them. Rosavia. So you became Jonquillen Rosavia Hill. Not. Not jq, but Jock one. Rose. Yeah. I just refused to call you jq, and it seems like all the younger people call you that other name and jq. Yeah.

[John D. Hill]

In my family tradition had it that names were from those who lived before us and they were passed down. Part of that was just the joy to realize that the two families come together in your name, and then it's the recognition that you are your own person as well, and you really don't have to live up to anyone else. You are free to choose what you do and everything.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

That's really sweet. I'm getting kind of emotional. I'm not going to lie to you. When I have a kid someday, do you have hopes for what I'll name them?

[Deborah Hill]

No, that'll have to be your.

[John D. Hill]

No, I. I believe that, too.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

Okay, Daddy, you'll never believe this, but, like, on my short list of names that I would think of for kids, Johnny is on the list for a girl.

[John D. Hill]

Oh, okay. Well, that. If that's your choice.

[Deborah Hill]

I know that's right.

[Cleveland Kent Evans (Cleve)]

If that's your choice.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

If you like it, I love it.

[Deborah Hill]

He didn't say that. He said that's your choice between the line.

[Jonquillen Hill (JQ)]

That's it for this week. Thank you to each of you who called and emailed to tell us your story. Rachel Lanham, Tim, Bonnie, Olympia, Olivia. There are too many of you to name, and I gotta say, all those names are pretty great. Now, we want your help with an upcoming show about perimenopause and how our bodies are constantly changing. We want to know what are the ways you've noticed hormones impacting your health, your mood, your relationships? And what questions do you have? Give us a call at 1-800-618-8545 or send an email to askvox.com and before we go, I gotta shout out two other names I love. Noam Hassenfeld and Bird Pinkerton. They host the podcast Unexplainable and just launched a version on Netflix. Every episode features a scientific mystery or an unanswered question. Head over to Netflix and give it a watch. This episode was produced by Danielle Hewitt. It was edited by Ginny Lawton. Fact Checked by Sarah Schweppe, engineered by David Tadashore. Our executive producer is Miranda Kennedy, and I'm your host, Jonquillen Hill. And you can still totally. Call me. J.Q. thank you so much for listening. I'll talk to you soon. Bye.