Many of my friends who know that pretty much all Turkish names have a meaning, asked me about the meaning of Derin Ege. Happy to explain: Derin means “deep, profound”, and Ege is Turkish for the Aegean sea between Turkey and Greece.
The reason we picked
DERIN is two-fold: First, it’s pronounceable in English (like “Darren”, even though its pronunciation isn’t quite the same in Turkish, it’s totally acceptable), so that the little guy doesn’t have to go through the same things his mom and dad do (my name has been pronounced in many different ways starting from Gock-see, to Gocks, to Gotcha, to Gurk-check, to goat-cheese... And his dad’s isn’t as bad, but he frequently gets called “yuck-sell”. There’s nothing yuck-y about my wonderful husband!). The other reason we picked Derin, is its meaning. We like what it communicates, and hope that Derin will have a deep, profound personality and live up to his name.
His middle name,
EGE, has a special place in our hearts, too. Yuksel is from Izmir, a city on the Aegean coast. I have also spent 7 years in Izmir when I went to boarding school there, and always thought that it’s that city that shaped me to the person that I am today. I basically “grew up” in that city. On top of that, my parents also live in a town that’s about an hour’s drive from the Aegean coast, and have a summer house on the north Aegean. The Aegean means a lot to both of us (not only as a place, but also as the region that brings us the wonderful cuisine, the olives, figs….mmmm….). (Side note: I should also write some time about our honeymoon in the North Aegean area, on an island called “Gokceada (Gokce Island)”…but that’s a whole other blog for some other time…)
Funny enough, my OB-GYN wasn’t available during the day Derin was born, and we had a very experienced and nice Greek doctor who delivered our little Derin Ege. During labor, I explained to him that our son’s name would be “Ege”. He liked it a lot, and said “Egeas”, which would be the Greek version of his name. I loved hearing that! Egeas….sounds even better than Achilles! Ha ha!! (looks like I feel very “highly” of my son already!!! OMG, I might just be one of those moms! Hmmm..).
Oh, one more thing…. When Yuksel and I went to Italy this spring, one of the cities we visited was Siena. It was great, like many other places we’ve been to in Italy. What struck both him and I, was the extremely proud stories our guide told us about the Siennese, and also their ages old conflict between them and the Florentine. Anyway, she told us that the Siennese are so proud of their city, and that it’s so important to be born on Siennese soil, that if a mother-to-be is for some reason not in Siena while in labor, they would bring a little bit of Siennese soil and put it under her birthing bed, so that the kid is born on Siennese “land”. While a little exaggerated, this story felt very good to us. And with me being 5 months pregnant back then, we thought we’d bring some Aegean soil from Izmir, and have Derin Ege the same way the Siennese did. Yuksel’s parents got the soil (sand, actually), and my parents brought it when they came to visit. And indeed, Derin Ege was born on Aegean “land” (not quite “on” it, since it was under my pillow…but who cares).
And that’s the story of Derin Ege’s name…. Hope you liked it.
Many of my friends who know that pretty much all Turkish names have a meaning, asked me about the meaning of Derin Ege. Happy to explain: Derin means “deep, profound”, and Ege is Turkish for the Aegean sea between Turkey and Greece.
The reason we picked DERIN is two-fold: First, it’s pronounceable in English (like “Darren”, even though its pronunciation isn’t quite the same in Turkish, it’s totally acceptable), so that the little guy doesn’t have to go through the same things his mom and dad do (my name has been pronounced in many different ways starting from Gock-see, to Gocks, to Gotcha, to Gurk-check, to goat-cheese... And his dad’s isn’t as bad, but he frequently gets called “yuck-sell”. There’s nothing yuck-y about my wonderful husband!). The other reason we picked Derin, is its meaning. We like what it communicates, and hope that Derin will have a deep, profound personality and live up to his name.
His middle name, EGE, has a special place in our hearts, too. Yuksel is from Izmir, a city on the Aegean coast. I have also spent 7 years in Izmir when I went to boarding school there, and always thought that it’s that city that shaped me to the person that I am today. I basically “grew up” in that city. On top of that, my parents also live in a town that’s about an hour’s drive from the Aegean coast, and have a summer house on the north Aegean. The Aegean means a lot to both of us (not only as a place, but also as the region that brings us the wonderful cuisine, the olives, figs….mmmm….). (Side note: I should also write some time about our honeymoon in the North Aegean area, on an island called “Gokceada (Gokce Island)”…but that’s a whole other blog for some other time…)
Funny enough, my OB-GYN wasn’t available during the day Derin was born, and we had a very experienced and nice Greek doctor who delivered our little Derin Ege. During labor, I explained to him that our son’s name would be “Ege”. He liked it a lot, and said “Egeas”, which would be the Greek version of his name. I loved hearing that! Egeas….sounds even better than Achilles! Ha ha!! (looks like I feel very “highly” of my son already!!! OMG, I might just be one of those moms! Hmmm..).
Oh, one more thing…. When Yuksel and I went to Italy this spring, one of the cities we visited was Siena. It was great, like many other places we’ve been to in Italy. What struck both him and I, was the extremely proud stories our guide told us about the Siennese, and also their ages old conflict between them and the Florentine. Anyway, she told us that the Siennese are so proud of their city, and that it’s so important to be born on Siennese soil, that if a mother-to-be is for some reason not in Siena while in labor, they would bring a little bit of Siennese soil and put it under her birthing bed, so that the kid is born on Siennese “land”. While a little exaggerated, this story felt very good to us. And with me being 5 months pregnant back then, we thought we’d bring some Aegean soil from Izmir, and have Derin Ege the same way the Siennese did. Yuksel’s parents got the soil (sand, actually), and my parents brought it when they came to visit. And indeed, Derin Ege was born on Aegean “land” (not quite “on” it, since it was under my pillow…but who cares).
And that’s the story of Derin Ege’s name…. Hope you liked it. 
Canim Derin Ege, o guzel gulerken dilini cikarttigin fotografinda GIDIGINDAN opuyorum seni.. masallah !
ReplyDeleteHaha, teyze/hala'sinin aldigi tulumda pek yakisikli oglum :)
ReplyDeleteİ loved the story, especially the part about the greek doctor.
ReplyDeleteİt is wonderful and amazing when you know the history of the 2 nations. :)