What's in a Name?
Ever wondered if there was any meaning in your name? My podcast explores all things onomatology... the study of names!
Episodes
October 18, 2026 • 23 mins
A business systems analyst from Calgary, Alberta learns for the first time what the name Monica means and shares the story of how she got it. Born in China with the birth name Meng, she moved to Canada at age 12, and her parents picked Monica from a list of English names in the back of a dictionary, limited to names that started with M and that they could pronounce. Listeners will learn the Latin and Greek origins of Monica, why th...
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October 9, 2026 • 14 mins
What does the name Melissa mean, and can a name's meaning influence who we become? In this conversation, an Indianapolis empty nester learns that her name comes from the Greek word for honeybee and reflects on how bee symbolism, including hard work, community, sweetness, and healthy boundaries, mirrors her persistent personality. She shares what it was like to be named after her aunt, why she spent her childhood wishing she had a d...
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October 3, 2026 • 78 mins
A returning guest joins the show two years after his first appearance to talk about how the meaning of his name became a guiding value, and how that value carried him through the sudden loss of his wife. Listeners will learn why choosing a child's name with intention and sharing the story behind it can build a lasting sense of belonging, why grief cannot be rushed or scheduled, and what re-grieving looks like around holidays, birth...
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September 30, 2026 • 23 mins
Summary
An HR leader with 20 years in the field discovers that his first name is Hebrew and means beloved, cherished, and dearly loved, and then works out what that meaning actually requires of him in practice. The conversation covers why so many people research their last name and never look up their first, how a passive meaning like beloved can be turned into an active daily standard, and what it looks like to apply that standar...
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September 23, 2026 • 18 mins
Summary
A professional speaker and entrepreneur who had never looked up his own first name finds out that it is Hebrew and means God has heard, then works through what that actually asks of him. The conversation covers what hearing means beyond sound, why he treats good listening as a standard for himself, and how the meaning reads as a reminder that people are not forgotten during hard stretches. He also shares the family history...
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September 19, 2026 • 40 mins
Summary
An identity transformation coach who has studied handwriting analysis, graphology, and letterology for 15 years explains what she believes happens when a woman changes her last name. She describes losing her own outgoing personality over the year after she married, getting it back over the year after she took her maiden name again, and how that experience sent her looking for answers. She also talks about the meaning behin...
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September 12, 2026 • 44 mins
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
Summary
This is a one year follow up conversation with a returning guest who first learned that his name means blessed and well spoken. He explains what actually changed after that discovery: how he used the phrase well spoken as a practical tool to speak up after decades of shyness, how he stayed honest in a discouraging job search instead of telling hiring managers what they wanted to hear, and how he redefi...
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September 5, 2026 • 21 mins
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EPISODE DESCRIPTION
A baby name consultant and former tech manager talks through what a name actually does in real life: how much the dictionary meaning matters, why some parents cross a name off the list the moment they le...
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August 29, 2026 • 26 mins
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
Most people know a one line definition of their name and never look further. This conversation goes past that. A guest who briefly went by her middle name in college talks through what it was like to answer to two different names, why one version of herself felt more outgoing than the other, and what actually drove that change. You will hear the fuller meaning behind a name usually reduced to "hay meadow," incl...
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August 22, 2026 • 31 mins
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
This episode follows one guest through the full process of tracing an uncommon name back to its origins and figuring out what, if anything, it says about her. If you have ever looked up your own name and found three or four conflicting definitions, or wondered why a name that no one can pronounce still feels like the right one, this conversation walks through it in detail. It covers where the name came from, ho...
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August 16, 2026 • 24 mins
Summary
This conversation looks at what happens when someone actually learns the meaning of their first name and then decides to live up to it. The guest, Greg Modd, an HR consultant and military veteran, explains how a name meaning watchful or vigilant lines up with a career built on anticipating risk, protecting people, and staying two steps ahead. Along the way the episode covers why so many people go by a shortened version of...
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August 7, 2026 • 29 mins
This episode explores what it feels like to carry a name most people associate with the opposite gender, and how the meaning behind a name can shape identity, personality, and life direction. Through a conversation with a guest named Noah, a Canadian woman in HR technology, listeners learn why an uncommon name creates both connection and confusion, how the Hebrew meaning of rest, comfort, and renewal can resonate with someone who n...
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July 17, 2026 • 51 mins
This conversation explores how the meaning behind a first name can mirror and reinforce a person's identity, values, and way of moving through the world. The guest, whose name means resolute protector and strong-willed warrior, explains why that meaning fits him so precisely and how learning it confirmed traits he already lived by. Listeners will hear practical thinking on why pronouncing and understanding names matters for inclusi...
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July 6, 2026 • 31 mins
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In this episode, Jayma welcomes Sean back for a part 2 conversation, revisiting the meaning behind his name (Sean, "God is gracious," and Conrad, "brave counsel") and how it continues to shape his life and work as an executive coach.
Sean opens up about his roots as a fourth-generation pastor, his transition into leadership development, and how grace and bold counsel show up in his coaching relationships. The...
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June 27, 2026 • 24 mins
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In this milestone episode of What's in a Name?, host Jayma sits down with her very first guest who shares her name, a fellow Jayma podcasting from Northwest Ohio.
A real estate agent, wife, mom, grandmother, and two-time cancer survivor, this Jayma opens up about her journey from disliking her name to embracing its meaning. Together they explore the name's biblical roots in Jacob, the unexpected resonance of ...
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June 15, 2026 • 47 mins
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Bonnie: Beauty, Words, and the Stories Names Carry
What happens when you interview a fellow name lover who has built an entire aesthetic around the beauty of words? In this episode, Jayma sits down with Bonnie, a guest from Australia whose name means "beautiful" and "good," and whose passion for onomatology runs as deep as her own.
A freelance copywriter for high-end fashion and beauty brands, Bonnie shares how a c...
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June 6, 2026 • 59 mins
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This episode of What's in a Name? features a first for the show: a father-daughter duo, Shirah and Paul, joining me together from Wisconsin. Shirah unpacks how her Hebrew name means "poetic song", while Paul reveals the surprising tension between his first name Paul, meaning "small and humble," and his middle name Lothar, meaning "boastful warrior," a balance he came to embrace only in his 50s.
Along the way ...
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May 28, 2026 • 28 mins
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What does your name say about who you are? In this episode, host Jayma sits down with Todd, an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and mental fitness coach from Akron, Ohio, to explore the meaning behind his name. Derived from Middle English, Todd means "fox" and carries qualities like intelligence, wit, adaptability, and curiosity. The two dig into how those traits show up in Todd's life, his pivot from digital marketi...
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May 21, 2026 • 23 mins
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What does your name actually mean, and does it fit who you are?
In this episode, Jayma sits down with her friend and colleague Cheridan to find out! Cheridan had no idea what her name meant before this conversation, and let's just say the reveal did not disappoint. A seeker. Bright. Untamed. Sound like anyone you know? Plus, Cheridan shares the wildly romantic story of how she met her husband of nearly 30 yea...
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May 15, 2026 • 59 mins
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Your name is the first piece of your identity. And most of us have never thought twice about it.
I sat down with Daithan — life coach, photographer, and founder of Future in Focus Coaching — for a conversation that honestly surprised me.
Daithan's name means "fountain" in Hebrew. It can also mean life, purity, renewal, divine abundance. And when you look at the work he does — helping people shift ...
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