Answer key to your assignment number 1

When you go to school Vienna and Venice, it is very likely that your teacher will ask you to make a big placard bearing your name and ask you to explain why you got that name. Well, during our time, that was the usual icebreaker so I am making this post so you have a ready answer.

Nanay and me thought long and hard about your names. If we were blessed with a singleton boy, we would have named him Bienvenido III, aka. Thirdy right of the bat, no questions asked. But you see, you turned out to be girls, twin girls!

So we just derived your names from your Lolo Ben, Bienvenido. Splitting it into two = Bien + Venido and mixing in a few more vowels and consonants resulted to Vienna and Venice. These are both names of beautiful cities in Europe and we hope that when you grow up, you will tour your Tatay and Nanay there.

From Wikipedia:
Venice (Italian: Venezia, IPA: /Ve'nεtsia/, Venetian: Venesia) is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto,
Vienna (pronounced /viːˈɛnə/; German: Wien [ˈviːn]) is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria.

Nanay wanted to add a second name. She has long fancied “Sophia” or “Sofia” and I liked how it sounded too. We paired it with Vienna… Vienna Sofia seems to make the tongue effortlessly roll. How about Venice? Venice Bakekang didn’t sound right. The second name has to be as classy and profound as Sofia. We came up with Clare… Venice Clare, in honor of St. Clare, who is the patron saint of that church along Katipunan where Nanay and Tatay sometimes hear mass. It is also in that church where nanay offered eggs a few days before our wedding day to ask for good weather. Her wish was granted. After the wedding, Nanay and I went back and offered her bridal bouquet of tulips to St. Clare. We prayed hard to ask for a child and I even begged the guard to put the bouquet inside St. Clare’s glass altar. She must have been pleased with the beautiful flowers and granted our petition. She gave us not one, but two.

In Latin, Sofia means wisdom, and Clare means clear or bright. Together, you will provide Tatay and Nanay with clarity of thought and wisdom.

The good vibes don’t end there. We also took into account the number of letters in your names. From: http://www.chineseastrologyonline.com/BabyName.htm. Both your first names have 11 characters, middle name 4, last name 9. The sum First Name +1 (12), First Name + Middle Name (15), Middle Name + Last Name (13) and First Name + Middle Name + Last Name (24) . All of these numbers (except 12) are lucky numbers. 3 out o 4 isn’t bad at all!

So there, that’s the story behind your names. Try to google for them when you are old enough. I googled today and found the following hits:
Venice Clare is a name of a bridge in Venice. Vienna Sofia turns out to be a regular flight from Venice (Italy) to Sofia (Bulgaria). Nonetheless, unique or not, your names are still the most beautiful names in the whole world for Nanay and Tatay.

Vienna Sofia and Venice Clare.
Live and bear your names proudly. You are your Lolo Ben’s legacy, you are Nanay and Tatays bundles of joy, our source of wisdom and strength.