"Shundeea" meaning Sunrays

In February of 2005, mom, dad and Grandma Lynda took a trip to Arizona to visit Grandpa and Grandma Erickson in their new home in Scottsdale. Mom was very pregnant with me at the time.

While in Arizona, they took a trip to the Grand Canyon. On they way to Grand Canyon, dad took mom and Grandma Lynda to this wonderful gift shop in the town of Cameron on the Navajo Indian Reservation. The Cameron Trading Post is full of Native American arts and crafts and souvenirs of the American Southwest. Mom spent a good hour looking for some Native American jewelry for herself. While looking at the jewelry, the ladies behind the counter asked mom about me. They especiallyy wanted to know if mom and dad had a name picked out for me yet.

They joked with the ladies that they were going to name me Mesa. The ladies weren't too excited about the name Mesa. They also said the name Cameron wasn't a good one either as it had already been taken. Mom and dad assured them they weren't going to name me Mesa or Cameron. They then paid for their souvenirs and started heading out the door.

Just as they cleared the door, Grandma Lynda heard one of the girls yelling at us. They thought they had left something in the store and went back inside.

Once inside, one of the young Navajo ladies said she had a couple Navajo names for mom and dad to consider for me. The first name was "Hozhoni" meaning beautiful. The second name was "Shundeea" meaning sunrays. She wrote both names on a piece of paper for mom and dad to take home.

Upon leaving the store, mom, dad and Grandma Lynda talked about the two names. They pretty much decided they weren't going to use either of the names for my first name, but thought Anna "Shundeea" Erickson had a nice ring to it and kept it in mind for the next few months until I was born.

Mom and dad debated for some time about my middle name. My first name was an easy choice. Anna was the only name they could agree on. They didn't have many ideas for a middle name. When it came time for my birth certificate to be completed, they decided on Shundeea. It's certainly a unique name for a Scandanavian girl and it gives me a good story to share with friends and family.