2. Hello My Names Are

My names are...

Kayla-  Kayla is the name my parents gave me and the name I respond to in most situations. I go by Kayla in both formal and informal situations- classes/work/friends also refer to me as Kayla. There is no real story behind my first name besides the fact that my parents had thought it a very rare name and had decided it would fit as it belonged to both Jewish tradition and Irish culture. Growing up I attended a bilingual English-Spanish school for several years. There I was no longer "Kayla" and "Kyla" was my name. Instead of correcting my teachers and peers time after time I came to accept Kyla as a name of mine. I never was too fond of my name, however since coming to AU I have come to like my name more as I am now not always called Kayla in every setting.

KK- This is my childhood nickname. My parents and extended family/adults from my childhood call me this name. This name symbolizes my childhood to me. No one really calls me KK now, as I suppose I have grown past the name. It was not a name I neither liked or disliked as I was too young to have an opinion on the matter. By the time I assume I would have grown tired of the name, others had felt the same way.

Kay- This is the name that most of my college peers call me by. In some organizations I belong to on campus this is actually my official name. When I came to AU I started introducing myself as Kay, and in informal settings I do prefer the name Kay. Maybe in some sense I thought this would get rid of the possibility of mistake of being called "Kyla". I also see this name as a more carefree and 'fun' name. I will introduce myself as Kay across the board to my peers in informal setting.

Kray/Krayla- this is a name only my closest friends in college call me. It is a combination of "crazy" and my name. This is an endearing name given by my friends that I like. However I wouldn't want anyone else besides these friends calling me by this name. This name represents this close-knit group of friends I found as a freshman in college. I am still close with these friends even though we have all found our different places on campus.

My names are not...

Kyla- As I have already shared, for several years of my life I was referred to as Kyla. This is not my name as the names Kyla and Kayla are very different and therefore mean very different things to me. It bothers me when people mispronounce my name and call me Kyla.

Monkies/Monker- Monks is my last name, when I was teased as a young kid I was called Monkies or Monker. Although this is definitely not something that still bothers me, I prefer to not have people joke around with my last name.