The Girl With Two Middle Names

My name is Katia Frances- Lee Koerner.
When my parents found out I was a girl my mother wanted to name me Katerina and my father wanted to name me Knottia (an extremely German name). They decided on Katia because it kind of incorporated both of the names they wanted and is extremely German (I am over 70% of German heritage and this is important to my family and I).
My parents decided to give me the middle name Frances- Lee because Frances is the middle name of my grandmother on my mom's side and Lee is the middle name of my grandpa on my mom's side both of these names have been the middle names of my relatives for generations and hold significance in my family.
It's a name with many meanings and complications.
It's a name that is unique and strong.
I once hated my name: no one could say it, only ridiculous family's give their children two middle names, and I didn't think it fit me.

Now I know differently.

Literal Meaning
Katia: Pure, Unsullied
Frances: From France, French or free man
Lee: Healer, meadow or wood, lion, poetic, shelter, famous bearer
Koerner: (a German name), miller or grain merchant/ administrator

My Meaning
I think that my name says a lot about me, I think of the word pure for my first name and I think of being honest, truthful, independent and powerful. I think of my middle name Frances- Lee and I think of being a free and independent think and as someone who can hold as much leadership, poise and prowess as a lion in the jungle. I think of my last name in terms of being a very German family and a very hard worker.

I used to hate my name because no one could say it and it just seemed so unnecessarily complicated but now I think my name is a very HUGE part of my identity and I can't imagine my name being anything else.

I decided to post about my name this week because I am currently applying for a Social Media internship through my university's Greek Life office and I was thinking about how much a name can impact the way you are viewed, even before the interview and before meeting in person. This got me thinking about social media and how important it is that we portray ourselves professionally and how we want to be perceived online.

Germany

My sophomore year of high school I had a German exchange student named Friderieke. She came to my hometown in early October and stayed for 3 weeks with my family and I. It was a great experience having an exchange student in my home and since Friderieke my family has hosted 3 more students all from the same small German town of Lindenberg I'm Allgau. (The picture on this post is of my exchange partner, my fellow exchange student from my hometown (Lara) and I eating ice cream in Germany on a class trip)

I was in Germany on the exchange trip for three weeks staying in Lindenberg with Friderieke and the rest of my host family. I went on the trip with my sophomore year German class and after the educational part of the part of the trip my Aunt and Oma (Grandma) came and picked me up and I continued my German adventure for another week to visit my second cousins in Heilbronn and climb the Alps with my family.

I had a great time in Germany and my hope is to go back and visit again with my family after my Italy trip this summer!