My name is like the waves gracefully gliding across the Caribbean Sea. The waves are a symbol of smoothness and peacefulness, which is the way I interpret my name and myself. When Miguel said my name, I felt an electric current, pulse through my body. I couldn’t help but beam each time he spoke my name.

I thought my name wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, until he looked me straight in the eyes and whispered it. It was a scorching summer night in the Caribbean; I heaved over the bar begging for an ice cold Sprite. Out of a hundred people, at least 75 had sweat dripping off them, which made their foreheads glisten under the hotel’s lights. As I stood there slurping, I felt his eyes on me. I was dying for him to come and talk to me.

Thirty minutes later, he smilingly pranced over and introduced himself as Miguel. His voice was deep and smooth and he had a charming Dominican accent. I simply introduced myself as Taylor, nothing special about it. Then he gracefully repeated my name three times in a row, “Taylor, Taylor, Taylor.” My eyes lit up as if they had just seen an array of fireworks, my mouth dropped open, at that moment, I became infatuated with my name but still questioned my name, or at least love the way he spoke it. In my mind, I couldn’t help but ponder the meaning behind Taylor.

After the introducing part was over, he took my hand and guided me to the dance floor. The laser lights flashed bright, fluorescent colors as Miguel twirled me in circles and swung me under his arm. My pink floral dress flowed to the rhythm he was dancing. Even with all this excitement, there was only one thing on my mind. My name. We ended up dancing until it was time to meet back with my parents.

Still infatuated with the way he pronounced my name and ended up questioning my parents as to why they chose Taylor. My mom told me she thought Taylor was a very simplistic and graceful name. My dad also said he was set on Taylor because of its simplicity and because it was a name he and my mom had decided on together.

Thanks to Miguel and my parents, at that moment, I discovered the meaning of name. My name describes my personality. The symbols of the ocean are the two main traits that make up my personality are peaceful, simplistic and graceful. Whenever I hear my name I will think of how Miguel’s deep Dominican accent, however; whenever I think of my name I will always think of the symbolic peaceful, graceful waves that continuously flow across the sea.