What is in a name?

How Vieira Girl came to be..

What is in a name? When I discovered Etsy back in early 2007 I had to come up with a store name and in  a sense a brand name. The first thing that came to me was my actual name Teri Martin, however there was already an establish artist with that name so I came up with Vieira Girl.  

Vieira is a common last name in the Portugal, a place my great grandfather immigrated from in 1916 to Boston Massachusetts.  I grew up surrounded mostly by my mother side of the family. So I was raised being close to my great grandfather and grand parents.  My grandfather and I were so close that senior year of college I took my grandfather on spring break with me to Portugal.

My grandfather Merrill, retired early after a company shake up. He then took his passion for photography and turned it into a small business. He turned his sun-room into a photography studio and then added extension to the house where he placed a studio.  He named his photography  business Vieira Studio. I grew up in that studio. My mother liked to joke, that I was the most photographed child. My grandfather was constantly taking my picture testing out his new gadgets, backdrops, and poses. 

My grandfather passed away from cancer 2 years after that spring break trip to Portugal.  So when I had to come up with a name for my store/brand I thought that Vieira would be a nice tribute, and a personal connection to my brand. I added the Girl to make it fun and cute. 

Many have wondered why I choose something that many have a hard time spelling, not to mention most have no idea how to pronounce, but to me breaking branding rules was something I just needed to do.

I think we all should find passion in what we do and even the name we do it under.