what's in a name?
FYI this is probably about as valentine-y as I will get in a blog post. Note the allusion to Romeo and Juliet, and let's move on.
So, names. Sometimes I feel that naming a person must be the heaviest burden placed on any other human being. We're born, it's really hard to tell what our personality is or really what we're going to look like as an adult, but our parents have to come up with something so the hospital can place a name band identifier on our infant legs. Talk about responsibility.
My parents didn't have a name picked out for me at birth. When I ask them why they picked the name Sara, they say it's because I didn't look like a Jessica. I'm thinking I didn't look like a whole lot of anything distinguishable at 5 hours old, but whatever, they named me Sara.
Turns out a lot of other people some 20 odd years ago also thought their babies looked like Saras, because a lot of my classmates had the same moniker. When I hit college, and had 3 other Saras, 2 Teras, and a Cara in just my little nursing class, I decided that the function of my name (to distinguish me from others) had just about ceased, and started going by Sadie.
My family hasn't given up on calling me Sara, and the government hasn't either, but that's because I haven't asked them to because my Dad seemed a little offended that I wasn't attached to the name he gave me. So now when I introduce myself, I am not sure who to say I am. Well, I am me, regardless of what string of letters is picked out as identification.
I read a story in middle school about fantastical creatures who, at a certain age deemed maturity, chose their own names. There was in this story one creature who liked all names equally, and so when the time came to announce her name to her clan, she told them "Guess." I think this is a brilliant solution, as long as it isn't applied generally. There can only be so many Guesses running around...
So, names. Sometimes I feel that naming a person must be the heaviest burden placed on any other human being. We're born, it's really hard to tell what our personality is or really what we're going to look like as an adult, but our parents have to come up with something so the hospital can place a name band identifier on our infant legs. Talk about responsibility.
My parents didn't have a name picked out for me at birth. When I ask them why they picked the name Sara, they say it's because I didn't look like a Jessica. I'm thinking I didn't look like a whole lot of anything distinguishable at 5 hours old, but whatever, they named me Sara.
Turns out a lot of other people some 20 odd years ago also thought their babies looked like Saras, because a lot of my classmates had the same moniker. When I hit college, and had 3 other Saras, 2 Teras, and a Cara in just my little nursing class, I decided that the function of my name (to distinguish me from others) had just about ceased, and started going by Sadie.
My family hasn't given up on calling me Sara, and the government hasn't either, but that's because I haven't asked them to because my Dad seemed a little offended that I wasn't attached to the name he gave me. So now when I introduce myself, I am not sure who to say I am. Well, I am me, regardless of what string of letters is picked out as identification.
I read a story in middle school about fantastical creatures who, at a certain age deemed maturity, chose their own names. There was in this story one creature who liked all names equally, and so when the time came to announce her name to her clan, she told them "Guess." I think this is a brilliant solution, as long as it isn't applied generally. There can only be so many Guesses running around...
I love you, Sara! Your number is saved on my phone as Sadie and sometimes when I'm referring to you when talking to Carter, I say Sadie just to distinguish from all the other Saras that we know. But I still call you Sara. So there! :)
ReplyDeleteYeah I don't think I was around for the whole name change... I'll call you Sara until you tell me otherwise! :)
ReplyDelete