What's in a name by Falaniko Medrano and Rafaela Roark
What’s in a name by Niko Medrano What does your name mean?” I’ve been asked this several times. “Falaniko” is certainly a unique name. Unfortunately, its translation doesn’t mean anything particularly interesting. It is the Samoan variant of the name “Francis”, which basically just means “from France”. Not only is this rather dull, but it’s also untrue of me. I am most definitely not “from France”. ... But my name does carry more meaning than its translation. It is found in the person whom I was indirectly named after: my Abuelo, or Grandfather. I had heard stories about him ever since I was little. I couldn’t recall them all perfectly, but I had heard enough to have a great respect for the man. What stuck with me weren’t the exciting stories from his difficult and crazy life, but rather his integrity, honesty, compassion, and most importantly, his love of the Lord. My parents wanted to name me after him. “Francisco” was his name. However, there were already plenty of other Franci