Myla.

In the dictionaries, my name means merciful. This means kindness and forgiveness, but it’s much more than that. 

It’s the color purple. It’s whimsical and playful but also bold and mysterious. It represents vitality, creativity, and delicacy. 

It’s feminine but not too girly. A name perfect for little girls who want to feel like princesses, and adults attempting to make a name for themselves in a career. 

It’s like a blooming flower with its scent wafting through the air in the springtime. It’s a Hawaiian beach on a warm summer day. Sunny, bright, and colorful.  

It’s as smooth as silk. It rolls off the tongue when talking, and in cursive, the pen flows effortlessly through the ups, downs, loops, and curves. 

It’s a name I share with my great-grandmother. She was strong-willed and hardworking, raising 5 children after her husband died. Even through the hardship, she remained patient and kind, devoting her time to being an elementary school teacher, and always making sure to treat her many grandchildren to ice cream every time they came over. 

Although I’ve never met her, my name gives me a connection to her. Something small but still significant, like a tiny star in the milky way. A little thing out of the many things that make me me, just like the one star out of many that make our galaxy, our galaxy. 

Some strangers compliment my name while others are confused by it. They may mistake it for “Maya” or misspell it as “Mila”. The most caring ones take the time to learn and understand my name, complimenting along the way how my name is “pretty” or “beautiful”.

Some of my friends call me smiley. To my mom, I’m my, and my grandma sugar plum. As time moved on, these nicknames evolved from my personality. Like how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. A caterpillar, just like my name, starts out ordinary. As life moves forward, it turns into a butterfly. The butterfly, like my nicknames, is more unique with special colors and patterns setting each one apart.

My name is just one piece of the puzzle. A complex puzzle where each piece is a little part of me. Each piece plays an important role in who I am, and for that, I would never change my name as I would be a puzzle with a missing piece.