JERELLT (1976)

I get two most common questions in my 26 years of existence.

1. What is your name?
2. Where does your name come from?

(But trailing behind recently is the when-are-you-getting-married-question)

Believe me, I get these two questions on first day of school, first meetings and even on job interviews. I always tell them that my name was coined from my mother’s peer group when she was still in high school.


J - oy
E - lena (my mom)
R - ebecca
E - lizabeth
L - uisa
L - oida (my mom is unsure of this one haha)
T - eresita

My name is a gift and a curse. It is a gift because it’s quite unique so there is a very small chance for me to be a victim of mistaken identity. It also breaks the ice on first meetings because the history of my name instantly becomes a topic for discussion.

It is a curse because my name has been misspelled (JERELT, JERRELLT, JERRELT, JERELLTT) and mispronounced (JERALD, JERELIT, JARELD) in every way possible. I even had to return my college diploma for correction. And worst of all, some people have mistaken me for a boy!

But when I entered the corporate world, the next question after the history of my name was: Do you have a nickname? Oh God! I do have a nickname growing up but it would be embarrassing to let everybody know what it is. Boyet used to call me JE as his term of endearment. So instead of the real one, I decided that JE would be my new nickname. I remember Boyet would frown every time he hears someone calling me JE. He later on got used to it.

Every time I tell these horror stories, my dad would usually tease my mom for insisting on giving me that name. He always says that nobody from her friends were even around when I was born. But just recently, one of the two L’s paid my mom a surprise visit. And thank God for Facebook, Tita Luisa shared this photo.

This was JERELLT at Luneta in 1976. Well, my mom wasn’t in the picture which only means that she was already a killjoy at that time. Though I haven’t met any of them personally, it’s so nice to finally put faces behind the names. Cool!

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8 comments :

  1. di ko makakalimutan "history" ng name mo. per subject mo yata nakwento yan kc parang lahat ng teachers yan ang tanong syo...class number 1 ka pa naman non kaya ganado pa mag-interview teachers...hahaha! :D

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  2. i know maylabs. i grew tired of it :)) minsan nga nakakalimutan ko ung names, nagiimbento na lang ako haha! :p

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  3. tingin ko hindi kj c mama mo... baka cya ung nagtake ng picture..

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  4. nakakatuwa talaga ang story behind your name :D

    hmmm..i wonder what your real nickname is haha!

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  5. @*MrsMartinez*, nope I was born 1984 :)

    @tholits, hindi siya nag-take ng picture. wala talaga siya kasi ayaw daw nyang maglinis sa luneta hehe.

    @kriska, wag mo ng alamin nickname ko. kakaloka!

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  6. Love the story behind your name! Another gift it came along with? No hit sa NBI. Hahahah! Maybe your mom took the photo that's why she's not in it. :)

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