What's in a Name?

I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who
living makes a name.
Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson. One of my favorites. Up until about an hour ago, when I decided that I was going to look up famous quotes about names, I had no idea she had ever said this. But I loved it on sight. So I decided to use it.

A name is like the only pair of pants that will fit us our entire life. Come on people, how many of you have found the perfect fitting jeans in your lifetime? Our name defines us, it shapes us: Marilyn Monroe, a glamorous name. George Washington, a bold name. Ringo Starr, an original name. Even when we detest the names our parents give us, it can still be hard to imagine another name for ourselves.

Or maybe it's not hard. Meryl Streep, Vivian Vance, Sigourney Weaver. Maybe they thought their new names fit them better than their original names.

For some time I've hated my name. I have even discussed this with my mother and father, "I hate it, it's too childish, it's too this, it's not cool-" blah blah blah. So, being the intelligent parents, they would always reply, "Fine, you can change it."

That's when I realize, I don't want to change it. I like it. And, even though I don't admit it to them, I think, wow, my parents are geniuses. So I haven't changed my name yet, even though there are days when I want to.

One of my favorite pieces of literature regarding names is Juliet's in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title.

Translated to modern-day English: Juliet is saying that a rose, would still smell as sweet as if it were called by another name, as would her beloved Romeo. A rose could be christened a dandelion, but it still smells like a rose.

But, what she failed to realize, was that if we called the rose by another name, and it still smelled just as sweet, we would still recognize it as a rose that changed its name. If I changed my name, my parents would still call me by the name they gave me at birth. Our names are our identities. They define us. Look at Romeo and Juliet. Montague and Capulet. They both died because their name defined them.

But the world isn't Montague and Capulet. We make our names. Romeo and Juliet aren't Capulet and Montague because they made their own names as the play went on. We know them as Romeo and Juliet. Just like we know Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill, and so on. We make the names that define us.

Too bad we don't make the jeans that fit us.