What's In A Name?
String together three vowels and two consonants and you have a name. Simple enough. But, there’s SO much more. You also have a nuclear chain-reaction. You have a portal to memories, reveries, dreams and dashed hopes. Depending on the vagaries of any given moment, a chance encounter with a name can feel like a blessing, a slap in the face, a sexual stimulus, a scream, an angel's kiss, a wound, healing balm, sunlight or darkness. Three vowels…two consonants…just a name…and all the emotions found betwixt Heaven and Hell.
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posted by Jonas | 11/13/2006 01:52:00 PM
7 Comments:
I actually have a post in the making about names... the defining piece that finishes what we are... it's a work in progress. There are so many nuances accompanied with a name, the tag on your life.
I look forward to reading that post, Amaris. As an immigrant kid with a "funny-sounding" name, I can tell you that it shaped me in a myriad of ways...
While I would certainly agree that a name plays a role in defining who we are, I wouldn't call it a finishing piece. In fact, quite the opposite.
We're given names at birth (sometimes prior) before we're anything. So in that respect, I think it's more accurate to say that they begin who we are. Some people grow into them, some people don't, they represent the our first major human identifier either way.
My name is David, and I've always found it to be excessively common (read: boring). All three of my names are actually pretty common. And I'm a junior.
Point is, my name affords me very little individuality. It's quite possible that I've worked harder than most to set myself apart because of this. I don't know, I haven't ever thought much about it.
But I am jealous of people with interesting names. I intend to name my future children creatively.
Your name, Reb, in Lithuanian, is "Dovydas." Just thought you should know.
Ha! Excellent! Perhaps I will start using that instead. I'd assume yours is Jon in English?
Jonas is far more original. And it ties you to your heritage - also cool (though I'd bet it made growing up in the U.S. more difficult for you).
I'm kind of a mutt (Irish and Cherokee primarily), so I don't really subscribe to any one ancestry.
Yup. "Jonas" means "John" in Lithuanian. It's not pronounced joe-nas, though. The pronunciation is more like yaw-nas. Most Americans don't quite get it right, so my nickname is Jon. A great many immigrants altered their names, or took on English names. I stubbornly held on to mine because...well...I'm stubborn that way.
Three vowels and two consonants. The possibilities are flowing though my mind, with Diana stopping to bow slightly as she passes.
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