WHAT'S IN MY NAME?

Asya:

• No, it is not a hypocoristic (i.e., short name) from Alexandra, Anastasia or Anna. Or Hanna, for that matter. It is my full name.
• No, it doesn't mean Asia (= the name of the continent). And yes, it is spelled with a "Y".
• The best theory about the meaning of my first name: it means "healing" in Aramaic (a now almost-dead language that was once the lingua franca of the Middle East; Jesus probably spoke it). Though, I doubt that my parents intended that meaning (or knew of it).

Pereltsvaig:

• Despite its strange spelling, my last name comes from Yiddish. The name has been assumed at the turn of the 20th c., so don't try to trace it back to the times of the First Temple...
• perel = Perl (i.e., "pearl") + tsvaig = Zweig (i.e., "branch"). So, my last name literally means "a branch of pearls". Put that together with the first name and you get...

... A HEALING BRANCH OF PEARLS!