On What's in a Name

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

                          —Romeo and Juliet II, ii, 1-2

I wonder—how much does our name affect who we are?  A name carries strong connotations of the person it represents; our identity gets wrapped up in it—whether we identify our inner Selves more with our personal name, our nickname, our family name, or with our title, job, or label.  I wrote a bit about this perception of names in general back in May 2012.  Now I question, as others have done before me, the influence of names on who we become as a person.

Words have power.  We know that praise puffs up and name-calling demoralizes—and that people can start to internalize those labels and view them as part of their self-identities.  Does a common name make a person more likely to grow up to be common, or does a common name motivate people to strive harder and distinguish themselves from the many others who share their name?  Is a person with a unique name more likely to emphasize their uniqueness in adulthood, or does it become a handicap of sorts, making it hard to fit in or figure out who they are or want to be as an individual or in the context of society?  Does a name meaning “brave” make the bearer more likely to be brave, to live up to that name?  Does a name meaning “beloved” make the bearer feel more emotionally secure?

When asked “Who are you?  What kind of person are you?” my first response is often, “Um, I don’t know.  I’m just me.”  After thinking about it, I can list qualities—what I strive to be and how I perceive myself to be in reality, and I could identify myself as a Christian, tutor, pianist, crocheter, wife, aunt... but a short list wouldn’t quite capture who I was and have become, and a longer list would be complicated, full of exceptions and examples and self-corrections.  The most concise way to sum myself up is just to say, “I am Leanna Marie Coon.”  Get to know me, and you’ll see a piece of who I am, and that name will start to take on some of the sense, shape, and form of my reality.