Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.

I went nameless for the first two days of my life.

Let me explain. I’m the youngest of six children, and my parents had a pattern. The boys names all begin with J, and the girls’ names began with E. Remind you, I was born way before ultrasounds determined the sex of the child prior to birth.

The family stood at 3 girls, 2 boys. Hoping to even things out, my parents immediately had Joseph in mind.

But no, we stand at 4 and 2. Mom went through a handful of names that weekend,but nothing seemed to click. That is until Sunday morning when the local TV station played Abbott and Costello movies. The movie that morning was “ Hit the Ice”, and featured an actress who played the girl the boys fought over. That’s it!!

It was not a common name growing up. I was only one of 2 girls in my graduating class with that name. It’s continuously misspelled and mispronounced ( I get Elsie ALOT ). Kids loved getting shirts and door plaques with their names. Mine was never there. I asked my mom if I could change it.

Jump to the 80’s

One Sunday morning, “Hit the Ice” played again and I watched it with my mother.

She asked me, “ You know that cute doctor on “ St. Elsewhere “ you have that mad crush on?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“ I named you after his mother.”

The actress, Elyse Knox, left acting after she married the football player Tom Harmon to raise a big family that includes actor Mark from NCIS.

That definitely made me feel better.

One other thing that made me feel better was another popular show; “Family Ties”. The mother’s name was Elyse. It was spelled the exact same way and, if memory serves me, was shown before “ St. Elsewhere “ on Thursday nights.“ Cheers” came between them.

My mom would go on to tell me,

“ You know, I clearly remember after that movie ended, an episode of “ I Love Lucy” came up. I could’ve been inspired there 😜”

Elyse- can be spelled many ways

Derives from the name Elizabeth

Elizabeth is descended from the Hebrew name Elisheva, which then became Elisabeth, and means “God’s promise” or “God is my oath.” In the Bible, Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist.