Gabrielle, it’s simple. There is not much in it if you ask me. Although, there is a sense of elegance. If I were to write it, it would be done with emphasis on the motion of the letters, which would give the style a life of its own. Writing, an everyday exercise, becomes a legible, beautiful expression. This is only one meaning of my name and I have gone by numerous nicknames. Too many in my opinion.   

There are reasonable nicknames like in volleyball or gym, I have always been called Gabby or Gabi. I don’t really know how it would be spelt because I have always told everyone my name is Gabrielle, but it usually turns into Gabi. Either way it is short and easy to call out. A name that brings the mindset of an athlete, a team player. 

There are those nonsense nicknames. Mine was G-bell then repeated multiple times extremely fast G-Bell turned into Gibble. Afterwards it was chaos when nicknames like Gibley, Gible or Gibbles, and Gerbil started to form. We were kids, and the names portrayed that. They give off the sense of excitement and fun. A concoction of creativity and disorder. Words that seemed to come from a kid on a sugar rush.

The name Gabrielle is not common, nor uncommon. Yet, I just can’t remember another person with my name who’s similar to me.The word Gabby implies talkative, chatty, loquacious, voluble. A name is something like abstract art such as Composition Vii, Yellow-Red-Blue, as a picture is worth a thousand words. People can paint a picture with their name, this may be them, but it’s not me. 

Not Gabby, but Gabrielle combining simplicity, power, and a certain elegance. Pleasing to good taste; characterized by grace, property, and refinement. It’s not agitating or very exciting, but tranquil; quiet in act and speech. Comparable to the quiet waters of a lagoon, scarcely a ripple on the still water, a reflection of the serene blue sky. Although, sometimes it feels like the state I’m in gives my name a different feeling of calm, the eerie feeling before the storm, the silence in the eye of the hurricane. The meaning of my name is a picture painted by me, a canvas I’m still painting.