Since ancient times, many cultures have attached such significance to a name that it was believed to be integrally tied to the very soul and destiny of the human being. A name was a public declaration of not only what to call you but who you were.
Our names are not a label but our identity. During the ugly period of slavery, slaves were given names that indicated their job and their ownership. Future generations of African Americans attempted to reclaim their past and identity by giving their children names that were native to the motherland.
I was recently struck by the importance of names while reading I Chronicles. In the midst of a long genealogy, the bible tells of a man named Jabez. The name Jabez means sorrow but this man of sorrow prayed and received God’s blessing. I pondered my own name, and identity. Am I living up to my name? As I dream and plan will I live up to my name or surpass it?
Does your name fit your purpose? In biblical times, God often changed the names of followers to signify a new life and new destiny. No matter what we are called, we can choose our identity. Whatever you are called, wear it proudly and allow your legacy to determine how future generations will see your name.
As you move forward this month with your hopes and goals, what will you be called?
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Hi Niro! Welcome and thank you so much for your thoughts on a name. Nicknames are interesting in that they sometimes focus on something about us and other times we almost become them.
Yes, sure! If you are feeling that your name is not expressing your real identity you should think to change it. As we are changing all the time to survive (it’s necessary because we need follow the environment changes) is possible anytime you perceive yours name is not corresponding to your name in a full sense. I’m not talking you should change your real name but yes about a nickname.
It happend with me when I was forty years old. We learn a lot of things during life and when we decide to put some of the good things in practice this change our mind. My name is Niraldo and my nickname is Niro. I keep hearing my name being called Niraldo by some persons but it’s not important. The most important is that Niraldo and Niro walks together. They are only different faces of a same identity.
Your blog is very cool. Congratulations.
Niro from Brasília (DF) – Brazil
http://3s.weebly.com
I love names. I often ask people how they got their names. Mine has been a curse and a help. Curse in that it’s mispronounced, misspelled and misgendered. A help in being uncommon that I can use it in branding (my web site is meryl.net and I have vanity plates with “Meryl”) and it’s memorable unlike my poor husband with thousands of Paul Evanses out there.
I’ll just stick with mine, Meryl the content maven. It’s what I am year-round on top of “Mom” and “M’love” (for my husband).
Meryl K. Evans´s last blog post..10 Tasks to Prepare for Time off
I think if I had to pick another name, I’d like have it end in “or”.
Because names that end in “or” sound like a Conan-Type fearless warrior. Someone who doesn’t take crap…who gets things done.
Krüll-Dor. Krön-Dor. Frak-Dor
(Or something like that)
.
I love this thought, Karen; it’s one of the reasons we writers ponder and discuss the idea of calling ourselves “writers”, isn’t it? Or even the much-more-sought-after label: “author”.
Those names and titles mean something to us (even if not to anyone else), and they are just as powerful an enabler as any given name, aren’t they?
What an intriguing post Karen… and one I’m going to ponder and see what might happen if I gave myself a different name!
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Hi Karen,
As you say, names give us identity.
Without names, we are nobody. With names we are somebody unique, not just a name in the crowd.
This may be totally going off on a tangent, but perhaps the emotional impact of names is one reason why I have heard that in the case of kidnappings, distraught family members should refer to the captive by name as much as possible when making any form of public plea for their release.
A name makes the person sound real, and I would have thought, would make it harder, from an emotional point of view, for the kidnappers to inflict any form of harm on their hostage.
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