As of recently, my full legal name is “Mary Boyd Crosier Samuel”.

I’ve been through a bit of a ‘name metamorphasis’. If you met me before age 22, you knew me as Mary Boyd Crosier. These days, I introduce myself as MB Samuel.

I’m very proud of every part of my name and the stories behind it, so I wanted to document my name’s origins and what makes it special.

Mary Boyd

“Mary Boyd” is a double name; I’ve always gone by both, rather than just “Mary”. This is common practice in the Southeastern US, and very confusing to pretty much anyone from anywhere else.

“Mary” was my mother’s first name as a child. When her parents were deciding what to name her, my great-grandfather (Pawpaw) chimed in that he had 12 grandchildren but no “Mary.” He got his wish, and 35 years later, a great-grandchild with the same name.

“Boyd” has been in my mother’s family for generations. It came from my great-great-grandfather, Samuel Wolfe Boyd (1867–1908), and was passed down through my great-grandmother and grandmother, to me. My uncle’s middle name is also Boyd, and he goes by it socially.

While there is no genetic basis for it, we like to say that there’s a “Boyd nose” in the family, that my grandmother, uncle, and I share:

From left to right: me, my grandmother, and my sister; Uncle Boyd not pictured.

MB

Because “Mary Boyd” often confuses people outside the South, I’ve gone by “MB” since childhood and started using it more consistently after moving to the Northeast.

Either name works for me, but MB is simpler for most people!

Crosier

My maiden name, Crosier, comes from my father’s side. A “crosier” or “crozier” is a type of bishop’s staff, so our ancestors may have been church artisans or clergy.

This is also an excellent name to have because it turns every art museum into a scavenger hunt. Here’s a crozier I recently saw on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Samuel

My married name, Samuel, comes from my husband’s family. While Ashwanth grew up in Kansas, his father’s family are South Indian Christians from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Among South Indian Christians, it’s common practice to take your father’s first name — typically a biblical name like Matthew, Samuel, or Paul — as your last name.

While Ashwanth’s family stopped rotating last names a few generations ago (modern legal systems really struggle with this), the last name “Samuel” reflects their cultural and religious tradition, which I’m honored to get to share in.

The End

Thanks for reading! Names carry our identity, culture, and history, and they make each of us unique. I’m grateful that you took the time to learn about mine.