Ayna Grace Maddox - What's in Name?
Posted by Gracie Maddox at 7/18/2007 11:44 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
Even though I mostly go by "Gracie", lots of people also call me "Grace". My full given name is "Ayna Grace Maddox". I thought I'd share how my mom and dad came up with my name.
My Uncle Marty and Aunt Lori gave my dad the book The Fountainhead to read one year a long time ago when my mom and dad were still married to each other and long before I was born. The author of The Fountainhead is Ayn Rand. My dad really got into that book and so my mom read it too and also loved it. My dad has since read all of Ayn Rand's books and my mom and my Bonus Dad, Stevie, own a real estate company they named Fountainhead Homes.
Ok,so the point is that mom and dad and my Uncle Marty and Aunt Lori all like Ayn Rand and my mom and dad decided my first name would be "Ayna", which would be pronounced "aw-na". Sometimes people say "eye-na" but that's OK since Ayn is supposed to be pronounced "eyen".
Now about my middle name, Grace.
My dad was really close to his grandmother, Grace Ford, who was my dad's mom's mom. Everyone called her "Granny Grace". My mom really loved Granny Grace too and liked the name a lot. So, mom and dad decided on "Grace" as my middle name.
And there you have it -- Ayna Grace Maddox. The "Maddox", of course, is my dad's last name. My mom's last name is now "Wallace" since she married my Bonus Dad, Steve Wallace. My dad likes to claim that Angelina Jolie named her baby "Maddox" after him! lol!
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are also big Ayn Rand fans, by the way. My dad says that Angelina Jolie has signed to play the character of Dagny Taggart in a movie version of Ayn Rand's other big novel, Atlas Shrugged. Mom says I might have been "Dagny" if my Uncle Marty and Aunt Lori hadn't named their dog "Dagny". Wouldn't it be so cool if I could win a role in the movie version of Atlas Shrugged? The line could read, "Young actress named after Ayn Rand wins role in Rand's Atlas Shrugged with Angelina Jolie!
The last part of this story is how I became "Gracie" instead of "Ayna".
Sadly, Granny Grace died of a rare illness just a few months before I was born. My dad helped my Aunt Lori, who is an OB/GYN, deliver me. He says that after I was born and they laid me on my mom's chest, my dad started crying thinking about his Granny Grace and asked mom if they could call me "Grace" instead of "Ayna". Mom couldn't resist a sappy story like that and so she agreed.
Finally, lots of people have just kind of naturally nicknamed me "Gracie". I really like "Gracie", too. When I came to L.A., I decided that "Gracie" would be my professional name.
This is the story of why I'm "Gracie"!
XOXO,
Gracie (with a lot of help from Dad)
My Uncle Marty and Aunt Lori gave my dad the book The Fountainhead to read one year a long time ago when my mom and dad were still married to each other and long before I was born. The author of The Fountainhead is Ayn Rand. My dad really got into that book and so my mom read it too and also loved it. My dad has since read all of Ayn Rand's books and my mom and my Bonus Dad, Stevie, own a real estate company they named Fountainhead Homes.
Ok,so the point is that mom and dad and my Uncle Marty and Aunt Lori all like Ayn Rand and my mom and dad decided my first name would be "Ayna", which would be pronounced "aw-na". Sometimes people say "eye-na" but that's OK since Ayn is supposed to be pronounced "eyen".
Now about my middle name, Grace.
My dad was really close to his grandmother, Grace Ford, who was my dad's mom's mom. Everyone called her "Granny Grace". My mom really loved Granny Grace too and liked the name a lot. So, mom and dad decided on "Grace" as my middle name.
And there you have it -- Ayna Grace Maddox. The "Maddox", of course, is my dad's last name. My mom's last name is now "Wallace" since she married my Bonus Dad, Steve Wallace. My dad likes to claim that Angelina Jolie named her baby "Maddox" after him! lol!
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are also big Ayn Rand fans, by the way. My dad says that Angelina Jolie has signed to play the character of Dagny Taggart in a movie version of Ayn Rand's other big novel, Atlas Shrugged. Mom says I might have been "Dagny" if my Uncle Marty and Aunt Lori hadn't named their dog "Dagny". Wouldn't it be so cool if I could win a role in the movie version of Atlas Shrugged? The line could read, "Young actress named after Ayn Rand wins role in Rand's Atlas Shrugged with Angelina Jolie!
The last part of this story is how I became "Gracie" instead of "Ayna".
Sadly, Granny Grace died of a rare illness just a few months before I was born. My dad helped my Aunt Lori, who is an OB/GYN, deliver me. He says that after I was born and they laid me on my mom's chest, my dad started crying thinking about his Granny Grace and asked mom if they could call me "Grace" instead of "Ayna". Mom couldn't resist a sappy story like that and so she agreed.
Finally, lots of people have just kind of naturally nicknamed me "Gracie". I really like "Gracie", too. When I came to L.A., I decided that "Gracie" would be my professional name.
This is the story of why I'm "Gracie"!
XOXO,
Gracie (with a lot of help from Dad)
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