“I always knew what I wanted to name my first child,” my mother told me, a unisex name in Haiti:  Valery for a boy or Valerie for a girl. But when it came to her second child, me, she was unsure. As the day of my birth approached, she pondered.

It appeared as though no name was good enough. (She would later go on to say that a lot of things weren’t good enough for her child.)

With no good names in mind, she thought of people she loved. She, of course, loved her mother, but wasn’t quite sold on giving me her mother’s name. And when she turned to her aunts and godmother, no name caught her attention. But when she got to her grandmother, it was exactly what she’d been looking for. She had found the perfect name.

On September 13th, 2002 my mother gave birth to me, a tiny and fragile little thing and said,  “Aline. That’s her name.” At least that’s what she told others when they asked.

There came a time when I wondered if my name had any other special meanings. I knew of others who proudly disclosed the meanings of their name. I typed “Aline name meaning” into the web browser. As I scrolled through many websites, one common meaning struck me, one specific to  the French language, as my name is a decently common French name:  Noble. I would later turn to my younger sister with a smile on my face and say, “My name means noble.”

As I got older, I earned a few nicknames, the most prevalent being “Lilou(e),” a  nickname that no one remembers inventing. Nonetheless, it’s well known and well used.

There would then come a time where I wanted to know the meaning of this nickname, too.  Lily. This was what came up most often this time. Lily. A plant that flowers between spring and fall, not quite knowing what color its petals will reveal. I find it quite fitting for me.

“Manmie,” I called out to my mother, “did you know that Aline means noble? And that Lilou means lily?”

“No, I didn’t. I wasn’t thinking of that when I chose your name but I like it,” my mother replied. “And you’ve always been smart. I didn’t need to know the meaning of your name to figure that one out.”

“I’m a noble lily,” I said with a smile.

“Yes. My noble lily. Always will be.”