What does your first name mean? God's Promise What does your middle name mean? Gracious What does your last name mean? The closest I can come with my maiden name is "the son of Niel's twig"- isn't that lovely! It is a Danish name and the vast majority of Danish names are patronymic in origin and end in -sen. In 1904 the Danish Government began to encourage the use of surnames other than the traditional -sen names, and many people then added a place or occupational name to their -sen name by hyphenating the two. Anyhow, the first part of the name (Nielsen) is the second most common surname in Denmark today. I guess there are still lots of -sen's running aroudn there! My married surname means a salt-water river. So what does your name mean when put together? God's Promise Gracious The Son of Niel's Twig Salt-Water River. Hmmm. What would you have been named if you were the opposite gender? I have no idea. I was just fortunate to be spared being named Jennifer. Sorry to all of you Jennifers out there-it is a fine name, but there is a glut of them. Not that Lisa is uncommon. I just know I would hate to be called Jenny! Any other name oddities? My parents named me something short because they don't care for nicknames. But then they turned around 10 years later and named my baby sister Deborah. No one has ever called her Deborah, ever. Although she doesn't really look like a Debbie either. Debbies are perky girls with pony-tails. I will spare you all the horror of posting another picture of my sister. Let's just say she is not perky and she never had a pony-tail unless it was dyed black or something. Do you like your name? My first name, yes. What do you like best about it? Nice and short. What do you like least about it? It's rather common. If you had to change your name (witness protection program, whatever), what would you want it to be? Flannery Rasmussen. But you can call me Flann...