The Golden Girl
My name is Teresa Danielle Giltner, and I am a native San Diegan. I’ve grown up at the beach and on the stage. I consider myself to be a pretty good surfer, and an excellent swimmer. However, I absolutely adore performing for an audience. I sing, dance, play musical instruments, study martial arts, and gymnastics. I’ve been dancing my entire life and have become advanced in classical ballet, funk jazz, tap, lyrical, modern, and hip hop. My major as of this moment is dance performance and I hope to continue with my studies at a major art institute, preferably Juilliard School for the Arts, and graduate with a Bachelor‘s degree in dance.
My first name, Teresa, comes from my Aunt/God-mother. Au contraire to what most people think, I am not of Latin or Mexican descent, so my name does not come from Mother Theresa or the great Saint Theresa who reformed the catholic church. Every member of my immediate family is named after someone from their families. For example: my mother is named after her uncle, my father after his grandfather, my sister is named after my uncle, and my brother after my grandfather. The men in my family are always given the name of their grandfather from the father‘s side of the family, and the women are given a name from the mother’s side of the family. After some research, I found that Teresa actually originates from the Greek language and is a name that means “late summer.“ I find that information to be somewhat ironic because I was born in late July, my favorite colors are brown, gold, bronze, and orange, and also my favorite season of the year is summer when everything is golden and warm.
Danielle, my middle name, actually has an interesting story behind it. When my mother went in for her sonograms, the doctors were absolutely, one hundred percent positive that my parents had conceived a little boy. They decided that their first born son’s name would be Jason Daniel Giltner. On July 20, 1988 however, a new born daughter came to everyone’s surprise. Seeing as they had fallen in love with the name Daniel, they decided to include it as my middle name, although they changed it to a feminine name: Danielle. Also, from my research, I found that the name Danielle was one of the most popular names chosen that year by parents. Overall, they basically chose that name because, in the words of my father, “it has a nice ring to it, a good rhythm. Teresa Danielle Giltner, it just rolls off the tongue!”
Finally my last name, Giltner (pronounced guilt - ner), is German and means “gold worker” or “one who works with gold.” It is actually a varied version of the last name Goldner. In a global perspective, Giltner is one of the least common names in any country. Due to the fact that it is a very sparse name, there are very few websites that include any relevant factual information regarding the name, making it very difficult for me to find any information.
Although my legal and proper name is Teresa, I have many nicknames. Since birth, I have been called Dani. All of my friends and relatives refer to me as Dani and would find it extremely odd and unusual to call me by my first name. In addition to that common nickname, I have countless other nicknames given to me by my friends. I would have to say that I probably have a different nickname with each of my different friends. Some of these include, but are not limited to: Pop, Curly, T, Small-Fry, Midget, Goober, Homie-Omie, Booger Buddy, Kangaroo, Baby, Popalicious, Daniford, Floppytop, and Twynklet. Most likely, all of those names sound funny and maybe even a little bit mean, but most of them were created through fun experiences and inside jokes.
Throughout my entire childhood, I pondered what I would change my name to once I was an adult, and I came up with so many beautiful names that I thought could represent my personality better than Teresa or Danielle. I always pictured myself as Veronica, or Grace, or Catalina; I was always longing for a more beautiful name that would sound flawless and magical every time I heard it. But now that I am older, I have really grown attached to my names, even though I hardly ever use them properly, I love my names. I agree with my father, I think that my name does flow nicely and sounds elegant and I think it suits me well. Lawfully, I do have the opportunity to alter my name now that I am an adult, but I wouldn’t change it for a million dollars. The only thing that I will allow to change, is my last name, when I am wed. Although I might just have to hyphen it because who wouldn’t want to be “one who works with gold” ?
My first name, Teresa, comes from my Aunt/God-mother. Au contraire to what most people think, I am not of Latin or Mexican descent, so my name does not come from Mother Theresa or the great Saint Theresa who reformed the catholic church. Every member of my immediate family is named after someone from their families. For example: my mother is named after her uncle, my father after his grandfather, my sister is named after my uncle, and my brother after my grandfather. The men in my family are always given the name of their grandfather from the father‘s side of the family, and the women are given a name from the mother’s side of the family. After some research, I found that Teresa actually originates from the Greek language and is a name that means “late summer.“ I find that information to be somewhat ironic because I was born in late July, my favorite colors are brown, gold, bronze, and orange, and also my favorite season of the year is summer when everything is golden and warm.
Danielle, my middle name, actually has an interesting story behind it. When my mother went in for her sonograms, the doctors were absolutely, one hundred percent positive that my parents had conceived a little boy. They decided that their first born son’s name would be Jason Daniel Giltner. On July 20, 1988 however, a new born daughter came to everyone’s surprise. Seeing as they had fallen in love with the name Daniel, they decided to include it as my middle name, although they changed it to a feminine name: Danielle. Also, from my research, I found that the name Danielle was one of the most popular names chosen that year by parents. Overall, they basically chose that name because, in the words of my father, “it has a nice ring to it, a good rhythm. Teresa Danielle Giltner, it just rolls off the tongue!”
Finally my last name, Giltner (pronounced guilt - ner), is German and means “gold worker” or “one who works with gold.” It is actually a varied version of the last name Goldner. In a global perspective, Giltner is one of the least common names in any country. Due to the fact that it is a very sparse name, there are very few websites that include any relevant factual information regarding the name, making it very difficult for me to find any information.
Although my legal and proper name is Teresa, I have many nicknames. Since birth, I have been called Dani. All of my friends and relatives refer to me as Dani and would find it extremely odd and unusual to call me by my first name. In addition to that common nickname, I have countless other nicknames given to me by my friends. I would have to say that I probably have a different nickname with each of my different friends. Some of these include, but are not limited to: Pop, Curly, T, Small-Fry, Midget, Goober, Homie-Omie, Booger Buddy, Kangaroo, Baby, Popalicious, Daniford, Floppytop, and Twynklet. Most likely, all of those names sound funny and maybe even a little bit mean, but most of them were created through fun experiences and inside jokes.
Throughout my entire childhood, I pondered what I would change my name to once I was an adult, and I came up with so many beautiful names that I thought could represent my personality better than Teresa or Danielle. I always pictured myself as Veronica, or Grace, or Catalina; I was always longing for a more beautiful name that would sound flawless and magical every time I heard it. But now that I am older, I have really grown attached to my names, even though I hardly ever use them properly, I love my names. I agree with my father, I think that my name does flow nicely and sounds elegant and I think it suits me well. Lawfully, I do have the opportunity to alter my name now that I am an adult, but I wouldn’t change it for a million dollars. The only thing that I will allow to change, is my last name, when I am wed. Although I might just have to hyphen it because who wouldn’t want to be “one who works with gold” ?
posted by Teresa Giltner at
7:07 PM
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