So after running a business for 2 years (more or less) and having to explain this many times before, I figured it was time to explain my business name once and for all. Well… I’m sure I will still have to explain it to customers who have never seen my business before or for those who don’t ask me outright.  But for those who don’t ask, and still want to know, you get the more detailed schpeel right here on my website. 

Good luck 🍀, don’t worry, its not that long… 

So… Here goes! (Drum Roll Please!!!)

Cue the Sound Guy!!!

My first name is Colleen… a good old Irish name (And Yes, I have a long Irish/Scottish lineage).  A name that literally means… wait for it… Girl… yep… just a girl.  (Cue that hit song by No Doubt… note to self, get that as a ring tone…)  Ok, to be very specific, it means an Irish girl but let us not split hairs shall we.   Moving on… A name given to me in remembrance of a tough as nails Irish lass from the my 1800’s ancestry who didn’t let life stop her when it threw her a curve ball.   And not just any curve ball, a massive curve ball, the kind that would make you tear up and want to bawl your eyes out for the poor woman who was my namesake…  (a story for another time perhaps).

But I bet you guess her first name was Colleen, Right???  Wrong.  Her first name was not Colleen… but her last name was Collins.  Another good old Irish name that was converted into a first name for my benefit.   And yes had I been born a boy, I bet it would have been Collin….  (aka boy).

So, Colleen means girl and Colin mean boy (actually it is a diminutive form of Nicholas but close enough)… we have learned some history now…  Yay History…  And this begins a story about a name…

Oh, Whats in a name...

When choosing a name for my business, I wanted something that could be rememberable, likable, and looked nice on paper.  I wanted people to look at it and say, “Hey, I remember that name, didn’t I see you at that show last year…”  My business name had to be unique and still have meaning to me personally.  And I know, I could have just called it Colleen Creations.   And I almost did, it would probably have been better so I didn’t have to explain my business name (not that I mind, it’s fun to talk to people).  But in my persistance on having the perfect unique business name, I started my research… and thus began hours and hours and hours of thinking and pondering and…. 

Ok, you caught me,  I googled it!   But in just a few short minutes I had the perfect name that was unique and personal to me.   Yay google! 

But what people do not realize is that in a manner of speaking, I did call my business name Colleen Creations (insert suspenseful sound clip here:  dun Dun DUN!!!) 🧐.

It's all about the i... or rather the accent

You see, the spelling of my name,  Colleen (Kah Leen), is americanized in pronunciation and spelling.  The stress in pronouncing my name is on the first letters of each syllable; K & L. But my business name is the Gaelic spelling of my very name; Cailín (with an ′ accent above the i) and the stresses are different.   In Gaelic, you would say Cailín as (cuh LEEN) with stress on LEEN.  Imagine a Scottish gent with thick brogueish accent saying it and you get the idea.

But here in America, most people who see the name Cailin (note the missing accent over the i) would say it as (Kay Lynn).  However the accent above the i is the key to saying my business name correctly, with out the ′ above the i, Kay Lynn would be the correct pronunciation. 

Now I don’t mind if you say it as Kay Lynn cause I have called by business name Kay Lynn myself and it is hard not say it in the American way despite it being spelled in the Gaelic way.

But no matter how you say it, (Cuh LEEN), (Kah Leen), or (Kay Lynn), it’s just a cute way of spelling my name that I thought would be a great name for my jewelry business.

Hi my name is Colleen (aka Cailín); it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.