Burris1

Jesse Burris

Professor Raymond

UWRT 1104-002

February 22, 2017

Writing Prompt #5

I love my name. For the longest time I used to hate it, but after growing up and learning

about why I have the names I have, its completely unique and special to me. My birth name is

Jessica Lynn Klasan Burris. Yes, I do have two middle names, which isnt the most common

thing to see. When my mother was in high school, she was reading a book, titled Jessica from

the Sunfire Series, and they called her Jessie, apparently the character was so strong and

independent, it stuck with her through the years until she had me and decided to name me after

that character.

The first of my middle names, Lynn, has been in our family for six generations. I can

only recall four generations. My mom has Lynn as her middle name, her uncle, my grandmothers

brother, had it as his middle name, and I think it was his grandmothers middle name. I dont

know any more past that, but I do know that my great-great-grandmother originated from

England, and I hope through my genealogy project I can trace it back from the beginning.

My second middle name, Klasan, has even more of a special meaning to me. As of right

now, I am the last person in my family to carry the Klasan name, which is the last name of my

great-grandparents on my mothers side. If I dont pass on the Klasan name to my children, the

name will die out. I dont know about you, but that seems to be quite a bit of pressure to put on

somebody. Although I dont mind, it makes my familys story more interesting and important I

think.
 Burris2

My last name, Burris, is the one I know the least about, interestingly enough. While I

know that my dads side of the family originates from Germany and relocated to Stanley County

in North Carolina, Im not sure where the Burris name started. When I go back home, I am going

to look through the family history book my grandmother put together and see if I can track down

the originating Burris ancestor.