Joanie Holzer Schirm: Hello. My name is Joanie Holzer Schirm, but it began at birth as Barbara Joan Holzer. My parents told me they chose Barbara purely because it was a very popular name in the year I was born, but from birth, no one ever called me Barbara so I left it behind. The name Joan is of Hebrew origin and means God's gracious gift. I like that meaning. My nickname quickly became Joanie. My Holzer surname is derived from the German word holz which means forest. My father always said it had a noble beginning before somehow later it became the name Holzer. Dad's surname followed his family through 300 years of Bohemian history in the Czech lands until the Nazis arrived and many of the Holzers lost their lives.

My first marriage added the name Schirm. Just after I'd married, my grandmother who was of German heritage quietly whispered to me that, in German, it meant umbrella. Well, some rain did fall on that first marriage and it fell apart, but I saved the name, honoring my two children that came from that union. So today, now my name is Joanie Holzer Schirm. The roots of each of my names and family history hold deep meaning for the true stories I write about involving Czechs and Germans and Americans. Names are good things.