Obviously, today, people will associate your name with the Tesla car company, but your name isn’t spelled the same, pronounced the same, nor does it have anything to do with Tesla. You even have several intonations and emphases, that Tesla does not. Your name has nothing to do with the guy, Nikola Tesla, nor the car company, Tesla, even though both of those are great. Your name is unique in the world, even today.
Why I picked Tesala as a first name for you, is pretty well explained by what I wrote for you, about a month after you were born.
I would like to keep a lot of my writings to you, private, but I realize that I may never get to communicate with or meet you again, so I don’t want these kinds of things, or anything to be lost to you. So here is what I wrote to you back then.
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Friday, July 2nd, 2010
Sometime you may want to know where your name Tesala came from, and why I created it for you.
First and foremost, I wanted you to have a truly unique name that did not exist before, for several reasons. Your mother picked a somewhat common name, Luciana, which is unsurprisingly narcissistic, in my view, since your mother’s name is Lucia and her name is part of yours. I guess your name could have been Luciana Erika Stone Corrales. . . To be fair, I like Luciana better than the first name your mother was thinking of, which was Milegros. You mother did not consult with me before naming you Luciana. Luciana was a total surprise, when I was told you had been born.
Second, I wanted your name to sound nice if it were shortened, as well as give you more than one option if you decided to go by a short name. All of the options could not have any bad meanings in Spanish or English. Tesa or Tes are the short names I was thinking of, and Sala(h) is also nice.
Third, your name had to be easily spelled, without complexion (I meant complexity) in Spanish and English. If you sound out Tesala in English, there is really only one way to spell it; the same in Spanish.
Finally, if there were meanings associated with the sounds of your name, they had to be meanings that I thought would represent you well, after meeting you.
Originally, I was thinking of the name Yalissa, if we had a girl, but I could not name you without seeing you, for a name must be chosen based on the child, not solely on what the parent likes or dislikes.
After seeing and holding you for the first time, you didn’t seem like a Yalissa to me. After meeting you, I went back to the hotel to think of a new name, since your mother did not welcome me as family to stay with you, despite our marriage. I looked on my iphone, online, and found the name Muktesa, which I liked, but it was a boy’s name. It sounded like a girls name to me, but I did not want you to have a boy’s name.
The Sanskrit (Indian) name Muktesa means King of Freedom. I thought it was important for you to have a name that allows you to circumvent your situation of growing up in the third world, with your selfish and controlling mother, and without me around all the time to balance out your mother. A name that meant freedom, was perfect. The freedom to escape your mother and to become your own person, something that to this day, your mother has not been able to do, and that she will try to prevent you from doing all of your life. Know that you are unique. You can do what you want, whenever you want, no matter what your mother or I think. Your choices are unlimited, and you can achieve anything, despite your circumstances, and despite your parents. I hope you do not end up as your Mother’s toy doll, as your mother is to your grandmother.
I split the name Muktesa into two parts, getting rid of the more masculine sounding part, Muk. Tesa, wasn’t particularily unique, and it could be pronounced different ways, plus I thought it could be more feminine with more syllables. I thought about two different endings, la, and nna. I debated the differences with your grandfather, Bruce Stone, and he liked them both. Ultimately, I decided on Tesala, because having Luciana and Tesanna rhyme, I thought was a little too cheesy. I also liked the many different meanings that could be found in the name Tesala.
Tes-oro means treasure in Spanish, so Tes could be short for treasure.
Tesa can be short for the name Teresa, which is one of your great aunt’s names, and as a baby, you do look quite a bit like her, but she has a bit of a baby face.
Tesa also means “full of beauty.” So far, you look almost exactly the same as your mother did when she was a baby, so my guess is that you will look something quite like her as you get older. If you do end up looking like your mother, there is no doubt that you will be a beauty. Probably even more than your mother, especially if you have my teeth, skin, and blue eyes 😉
In Italian, Tesa means countess.
Here are some more meanings that I found, after I named you.
In Spanish, artesa means indigenous.
In Hebrew sala means peace
In Spanish, sala means room.
In Greek, tes or tesa means Late Summer.
In German, ala means noble, or exalted.
In Arabic, tesa’a is the number 9.
To me, your name is freedom, which I hope you can achieve. I worry that you will not be able to escape the clutches of your mother’s family down in Peru, and that you may never escape the third world, because of your mother’s ineptitudes and insecurities, but I have faith in you. You mother will try to brain wash you through her religion, and the Catholic church will try to do even more to control your life, but you can be free, and your name proves it.
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I said no to Milegros, and evidently, your mother relented, as she should have. I’m sure your mother has tried to pry your first name, Tesala, that I gave you, away from you and tried to demonize it. It’s predictable.
However, now you know where you first name came from. I told your mother about this, so she already knew. I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t tell you, or told you something else.
You are the only one with the name, Tesala, in the whole world, in every culture and country. You can do a google search and it will only funnel you to Tesla, because it can’t find anyone named Tesala.
You are unique, and in more ways than just the name I gave you. I think you’ve probably changed a lot from the last time I embraced you. I can’t wait to see you again.