Why Am I Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior?

Tags: Encouragement for living with RA, Humor with RA

History of Rheumatoid Arthritis “Warrior”?

My name rhymes with lots of things. None of them pretty. Enjoy imagining… I am not putting it here. I hated that name as a kid.

When I got older, those bookmarks with names became popular. Everyone was glad to see his name in print with the etymology of the name proudly displayed. Not me.

My name has a meaning that was not so cool or cute to a girl. The derivation is an Old Irish (Celtic) word “ceallach” meaning “war.” So, literally, it is “warrior.” Why would we call a girl that?

Accordingly, most of the little wall signs and bookmarks put a genteel spin on it. I had ones that said “bold,” “sustainer of virtue,” and “warrioress.” I had various versions from well-meaning friends.

I tried to like it. But it was a far cry from the connotation of my friends’ names – “beautiful,” or “graceful,” “soft,” and “kind.”

The day that I decided that my undertaking on the net would be called Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior, I realized the “co-incidence” in the name “warrior.” I knew I was doing the right thing. I knew it was my role to fight.

Today, I am proud of my name. I don’t think I would change it if I could. “Soft” does not fulfill the qualifications for certain jobs.

Research notes:

If you enjoyed the name history of RA Warrior, maybe you’ll want to look up your own using the same sites.

According to yeah baby, names can have multiple origins which create various meanings. Amusingly, a list of origins follows. Every Kelly entry is “warrior.”

More of the same results:

more than you’d ever hope to know

etymonline

Read more Warrior:

The Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior’s RA

The Me Before Rheumatoid Arthritis

Pyramid Approach to Rheumatoid Arthritis Trashed

NOTE: Your comments are an important resource for future readers of this post in the months to come. Please find the comment link below each post.

Click here to read all the comments or add yours!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 9:11 am and is filed under Can we laugh now?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.