Changing names happens every day. We get married. New last name. New beginning. It’s exciting. A first name is dropped in favor for the middle one. We move to a new town. There goes our nicknames and baby names.
The oldest friends can be quickly spotted by the way they name us. If you ever hear anyone call me ‘Vic’, you can be sure they have known me for a very long time. It always makes me feel warm inside to know, “Hey, there’s Danielle Dove and then there’s just Vic.”
We take such liberties with names. I call my husband and son every which name that comes to mind.
This morning I called my son a penguin. Most of the time the words I use don’t even make sense. Their meanings I know exist in some deep dark hallway in the library of creative fairies.
I like using different names for different days for different occasions. Why?
Vibration. We are vibrational beings. What we say has a resonance. It either adds positive energy, neutralizes or creates negativity. You can see it in the water crystals and in this book Doreen Virtue wrote with her son.
Somehow all of those seeds of reading about energies and angels and their unique vibrations based on their names added to a bouquet of thoughts, which led to one word and one action.
I changed my name.
In 2009, while visiting my beloved sister in Switzerland for 3 months I grew more and more pregnant with the deep knowingness I was having a new name come to me soon. It almost felt like a new soul.
Since every question is always answered, my curiosity led me to ask… “What could be the name…?”
I often send those questions upwards to the realm of wisdom and truth and most times, every time, I get a letter back with the answer in it.
“Danielle.” “Danielle.” “Danielle.”
The name was on repeat in my head until I awoke. Snow covered the Swiss Alps which made the tall leafless dark trees pop graciously from the white background. Switzerland is like a living canvas and I was receiving my very own brush and my very own colors.
I breathed in the new name. A little groggy from a deep sleep I even thought of all the Danielle’s I knew until I was poked on the head by the delivering angel: “No! That’s your new name!”.
Wow.
The soul had arrived. Wow. Ok. I love it. I looked deep into her sparkly eyes. I may have even jumped on the bed a few times and opened up the windows to welcome in the fresh air. I was as exited to meet her as she was for coming into the world. We fit together like puzzle pieces. Nothing else mattered. I had met my match. My heart burst in a million happy pieces. I had been set free.
The vibration of that name along with my vibration the exact time and place of my birth into this world along with her coming on that snowy morning of March 2009, took all of my experiences and all of my shadows and all of a sudden it all made me shine brighter.
I had forewarned my sister one afternoon in the car that I was sort of ‘pregnant’ with a new name and it was coming soon. She gave me the look. The look of grave disapproval we get from a loved one when we are way way way way off out of their comfort zone. She didn’t understand She didn’t have any frame of reference for that new experience. So she sort of denied it. She couldn’t accept it at first. She couldn’t accept me or my new choices.
This my friend, is exactly when you want to push on the gas and break through the boundary even faster, because “You must want freedom more than you want the world”*
I had to have the freedom of putting on that new name. I had to have it more than I needed or wanted my sister’s approval. I had to become empty enough, un-attached enough to fulfill my heart’s mission and I wanted the freedom of doing that more than I wanted approval from the world.
I pushed on the gas. I was ready for my new last name.
Oh geez. A new last name? Really? There had always been so much pride in my last name. Michel-Meniere. My great grandfather discovered the Meniere Disease which millions of people unfortunately have today and gave it his name. My last name. I have about 5 great grandfathers in the encyclopedia for the medical research and discoveries they made. Two of them, the Becquerels, actually worked with Marie Curie when she discovered radioactivity.
All of that energy was in my last name and I was telling the whole world. F’ it. I don’t need the blue bloodline. I don’t need the titles and the leather bound books with my grandfather on the cover. I don’t need the silver spoon. Nope. Never got me anywhere good.
I gave up the past, pushed on the gas to freedom, to God, to Angels and was given the world as my oyster.
“Dove”
I cry still writing down my new last name. So simple. So me. So who I had always been. Small but kind. Quiet but powerful. Pink on the inside, dark purple shield on the outside.
Danielle Dove, Ever since you came into my life you turned it upside down and back up again. You have been with me through every hill and valleys and have given me wings to fly.
We turned around and said our goodbyes to Victoire. Victoire.
Victoire was my original birth name. I still love her. She was so powerful, driven, competitive. A winner. She couldn’t say her name without drawing attention to herself. I thought back of the day I had my first spiritual awakening on the beaches of Malibu and realized, “this isn’t me anymore”. Maybe it was never truly me.
Of course, God would send me a humble name. Not one that stands out. Not one that screams for attention, blond hair and piercing blue eyes. No. Just Danielle. I was finally receiving the name that matched my introverted spirit. That was the sensitive child I had always been.
My strong and gorgeous mother wanted a powerful, competitive better than everyone else child. So she called me Victoire (Victory).
Now with a name like that, it comes with immense pressure. Immense pressure to win at just about everything I tried. Immense pressure to measure up to both my first name and my last name. It was bullshit. Stupid world ego crap and I dropped it.
I dropped it like a hot potato and trusted God more than the world.
I trusted in my freedom more than I needed the world’s approval.
End of the story?
I moved back to Viva Las Vegas and on Earth Day met the woman who changed my life forever. She took me into Barefoot Sanctuary and asked me if I would teach, Meditating with Angels.
Danielle Dove was officially born to the world at Whole Foods on Las Vegas Blvd in May of 2009.
Only a year ago, I walked around the place thinking how cool it would be to get to teach here in this giant green place.
😉
*You must want freedom more than you want the world is a quote by Lester Levenson.
Guide to Changing your Name
I am often asked how I changed my name and how I received it. This blog post is for you and you all know who you are 🙂 Now some of you brave souls and darling doves out there actually did change your name. You did it. You went out and rightly thought, “Hey, if she can do it, so can I.”
I want nothing more than for you to want freedom more than you want approval from the world.
It’s way more important that you let go of arguing with yourself or others, trying to be right when only the ego wants to be right and the ego is never right, your heart always.
I want to be there for you as your journey through announcing your new name to the world. Changing your Facebook profile. Getting them ready. They will adjust. Give it time.
Trust in your connection to the source that gave you the new name more than you trust in your limited connections with the world.
It takes time but believe me, when they see you again and realize how much you have changed (for the better and brighter), they will fall in love with the new you just as much as they loved you before.
Challenge them and love them. Challenge their minds and ignite their heart. Challenge their cookie cutter lives and show them new possibilities. One day when they are ready, they might just follow your lead.
The name will come to you.
Some helpful resources
First get a journal and write in it every day that you can. This will allow the angels to know your thoughts, fears and questions. You will love having these Living Goddess Journals as you continue to grow and expand.
Another is a resource my husband and I used to help us pick our son’s name based on the time and place of his birth. http://www.kabalarians.com They are lovely people and very good at what they do.
I am in no way affiliated with them or the Kabalah, it’s just a service my husband discovered and recommends.
I did not use it to receive my new name nor ever had them check if that was a better fit for me. I don’t need to as I know deep down my name is the perfect one for me, for now.
I did not change my name legally. Instead I set up a DBA for Doing Business As Danielle Dove which allows me to receive checks under that name and ‘do my thing’ as Danielle Dove.
Will I change it legally one day? Perhaps. It’s a bit of a hassle and take a long time and I figured, for now I would just keep the name the same on my papers and passports and mortgage documents.
Since I rarely ever use my birth name and no one calls me by that name, except for my sister and other family members I don’t see too often, it really hasn’t affected me.
I might change my name again in this lifetime. I received my 3rd Hindu name at an Ashram in California. I have yet to grow into her wings. They are much bigger and brighter and require her very own land with her very own healing center. That’s for another day, another time and another story over tea leaves.
I love you and your decisions. Go for freedom. You have all the approval you could ever need within. Spread your wings and fly. I’ll be right there next to you.
Special Tips from my drear friend and Healing Dove Therapy Practitioner
Diana Christina:
“You will know when the time is right, listen to your inner voice, don’t do it on a whim.
Think about it for months, not days. If it’s truly meant to be the nudging won’t go away.
Meditate about it
Only speak to loving supportive people when in the process, or those who have done it before.
Be sure the name resonates with you.
Be proud and happy after you do it and celebrate the new you
Have a party, a ceremony, a cupcake …just celebrate!
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