Officially (and in all official documents), my name is Hurriyah El Islamy.
'Hurriyah' is a term of Arabic origin. Depends on how one pronounces it in Arabic, it may mean either 'freedom' or 'beautiful lady' (as one very wise man reminded me early this year). Without any caveat, when one says her name is 'hurriyah', an Arab will immediately interpret it as 'woman in Paradise' (as I have always been told)
The wonderful part of having an Arabic name written in Malay spelling is that one can have one name with two possible meanings. If anyone asks me the meaning of my name, my answer will usually be that I'd like it to be hurriyah as freedom while I am still alive and hurriyah as the woman in 'Jannah' (means paradise) once I have left this world.
I will choose the above answer to avoid further conversation that usually will relate the name with 'huriya al bahr' which means mermaid. Well, the 'association' with mermaid isn't that bad due to the fact that this mythical half-human sea creature is conventionally depicted as beautiful and with long flowing hair. Furthermore I myself love 'water' so very much. I am very fond of anything associated with water, eg swimming, sea, lake or river and love to go for diving. But, nah! I am happy for who I am and glad for being so.
El Islamy - is my family name. My father chose that name when he converted to Islam.
Well, that basically is the meaning of my name. I have taken sometime to elaborate the above because I prefer to differ from Shakespeare who wrote: "what's in a name, that which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet" True that rose will smell as sweet whether or not you name the flower as rose. That, however does not change the fact that it is in a thing's name that we infer what to expect; I am sure one will not expect sweet smell out of rafflesia, for example. It is sufficient to say, for the purpose of this page, that I am glad my father had exercised such a due care in choosing the name for me.