Ch.5 My name
Not to be egocentric, but I reckon I never properly introduced myself to you. I am Asha E. Burke, the only daughter of Preston Burke and Cristina Yang. E for Eugene, as in Eugene Foote, my dad's favorite musician. That is pretty clear.
Coming up with my first name was a much bigger hassle. Mom wanted something that begins with an A because that's the only thing that had ever appeared on her academic reports. Dad was okay with that, until he found out how many different names there were that began with an A.
I was born on Christmas Eve. My mom's step-dad had long passed away and she was celebrating Christmas with Dad—yes, Cristina Yang decorating the Christmas tree and wrapping boxes of chocolate in silver and gold, dancing to Hark the Harold Angels Sing—when her water broke.
That almost made me an Angel, or Angela. Thank God it didn't happen.
Dad thought of naming me after his grandma Alice, but Mom thought it sounded too much like Ellis with a capital G (not that she didn't respect her as one of the greatest surgeons of their era).
Surely it could not be Adele, Addison or Alexandra (Alex the Evil Spawn for short). Anna, along with its variations Ann, Anne, and Annie, was out of the question, for it was the only girl my dad had seriously dated.
Amy was too simple, Anastacia too Russian. Aggie too boyish, Ariel too Disney, Annabelle sounds too much like a model, too Izzie. They also decided against Abigail, Ada, Amelia, Anita, Avis and a dozen other names for reasons unknown. At one point, people at the hospital thought they would call me aorta, aneurism, or accident.
Finally, they went to get my birth certificate. The officer, who, according to Dad, resembled Bailey the Nazi, was annoyed that my parents only put the letter A down as my first name. She lectured my parents for 5 whole minutes about how I would be ridiculed by other kids at school.
I was named after that officer. In Kiswahili, Asha means life. It's only years later that I realize Asha also means hope in Hindu.
My parents gave me life, and I am here to bring life and hope to more.