My name is Kennedy. The first thing you might think of is our great past President John F. Kennedy. I, unfortunately, am not named after him—though it would be an honor. 

My Uncle Blake suggested my name. Why did he have a say? I have no clue.

My name is happy. The color I think of when I think of Kennedy is sage green or pastel yellow. Sage green like fresh succulents or hanging plants that you bring home to put in your room. A warm feeling comes along with it as if the sage green plants are getting fresh sunlight from an opened window on a warm summer day.

Ever since I was little I’ve always been told that I am a ball of sunshine. There’s a video that my mom has of me as a baby. In the video, I'm the happiest baby in the world. Just the way in the video my mom says my name. You can hear the happiness and love in her voice. Unless of course, now, she is getting angry with me and sounds frustrated. 

I love my name, but I have always wanted my name to be my middle name, Clara. There is nothing significant to my name beside me. Clara was my great-grandmother's middle name. I think it’s just beautiful. 

Clara reminds me of a girl in a sundress running in a field full of flowers with the wind blowing gracefully in her hair, where time is just a figment of her imagination. In comparison to Kennedy, Kennedy is stuck. She feels like she can do whatever she wants, but because of others' thoughts filling her brain she feels stuck. Like she can't unclog this pipe to let her finally be free. 

 One of my favorite nicknames is Kenny. My mom is the one who came up with that. To me, Kenny has adolescence and innocents tied to it. 

My other favorite is Ken. Ken is the girl I want to be. Ken can do anything she has ever wanted. Ken is a dark cherry red or even the color of pomegranates that you eat at picnics. Ken feels powerful because it can go both ways with being a girl's name and boy's name, therefore being powerful enough to do anything she wants.  I only get called Ken by my closest friends and boyfriend. It gave me butterflies when my boyfriend and I started dating. He only referred to me as “Ken”. I also love when my best friend calls me Ken because it’s not only just her shortening up my name, but it makes me feel close to her. 

I think I would end up changing my name to Ken. Just like a haircut, you love long hair but sometimes it's time for a change and time to cut it short. Ken is simple, short, and sweet. It is something that I think could help me be more confident. I do feel more confident when people call me Ken because it's special.