The Greek Princess

My ISTORIA Series

There once was a Greek princess and her name was Alexia. She was born on the island of Corfu in 1965. This was 5 years before I was born. The Greek monarchy was removed from power in the early 70's, and Alexia was raised in England. Alexia did have a royal wedding in London attended by all the royal families of Europe. She and her husband live in the Canary Islands with their children. I found it interesting Princess Alexia worked as a group therapist with children and their families as she earned a Master's degree in Early Childhood Intervention. This is actually endearing to me, as I have worked with families for 25+ years as a therapist and now life coach. I have an earned Master's degree in Counseling. I have never met princess Alexia, and having been named after her, I would actually consider an encounter on my bucket list.

My mother married my father in 1968, moving to the US shortly after. They left all of their family, along with the traditions & customs of the family. As my brother and I were raised in the US, we celebrated holidays such as Thanksgiving. It was important to keep our language and culture, equally acclimating to the culture of the US. Some of the customs continued to be expected by my relatives. One such tradition was naming o!spring the grandparent's names in honor of them. Even though I was born in America, my mother had to face the family when she towed me for a visit in 1973. I was 3 years old and my mother had decided to name me after a princess. No one in my family had the name of Alex, Alexia, Alexis...you get the point. I'm kind of grateful, as my grandmother's names were Kiriaka (Sunday), and Banayiota (Mary). I would have held onto the Greek version of the name, and I love my name Alexia.

There was a war in 1974 where my family lost everything, and there was a war in 1973 when my parents visited Cyprus for my brother's birth. My mother defied her in-laws once more. She decided to name my brother after her father. My parents honored my maternal grandfather, and no one on my father's side of the family was honored in this respect. Sparks #ew between my mother and paternal grandmother. Mom held strong and my father backed her. Soon afterward, they flew away to their life in the US, so the internal family war was short lived. For me this is a fun story to tell. For them the conflict that arose affected family dynamics relationally for decades to come.

My cousins have been named Banayiota. Plenty of Greeks are named Mary. Also, my paternal grandfather's name was George. How many Greeks do you know named George? My mother's name is Georgia. Our last name is Georghiou. So she is Georgia Georghiou, and if she had named my brother after my paternal grandfather, my brother's name would be George Georghiou. lol. His name is Christos and even though peers and teachers tried to shorten the name to Chris, my parents never allowed this.

Being named after a princess is a cool story that I have told people throughout my life when asked about the origins of my name. Our name, Alexia, has a meaning of 'defender of man, & helper.' Alexander the Great was a military leader and king of Macedon, known for his bravery and loyalty to the people. There is a lot of meaning to a name, and I like mine! Alexia gained the most popularity as a baby name in 2013 with its use rising 143%. Not sure why. I will share about my last name and the unique origin in a future episode.