What’s in a Name?

Do names matter?  Can a name define us, at some core level?

Along with gender, the first thing everybody wants to know about a new baby is their name.  The gender thing is under fierce debate these days, but I think we’re all agreed that our children are still given a name, at or shortly after birth.

Don’t we consider, carefully the name we choose for our offspring?  We’re giving our children their first identity marker when we give to them their name.

Some children are named after a favorite aunt or uncle or a “family name.”  Other names are made-up names, pulling together parts of names or place-names, with some sort of significance to the parental units.  Yet other names are of ethnic origin and again hold some sort of meaning.

In terms of name-meanings, there are books and internet references dedicated to name-origins.  Some parents-to-be consult these resources in order to select a certain just-right cadence to the name and/or character traits they hope to see their offspring realize.  For example, my name derives from the very industrious, beaver.  And so, I am.

Hope was one of my chosen names, one of those teenage fantasy exercises engaged in by some of us.  Anne Shirley from “Anne of Green Gables,” my favorite book series, stipulated she preferred to be known as Anne with an E, because it was “so much more interesting.”

Tara, was another one.  I guess I was a “Gone with the Wind” fan at some point in my youth.  “As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again,” said Scarlett O’Hara; and Rhett Butler’s famous line was, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”  These industrious folks called their farm, Tara; probably after terra, for earth.

“Name that tune,” has been a game-show for eons.  I mean, what’s a song, without a name?  Name-dropping is key for some folks looking for a job.  It’s all about who you know.

What about name-calling?  When I was a kid, we learned to chant: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words (names) will never hurt me.”  If you’ve ever been bullied, you know this isn’t true.  These kinds of names, now called labels, hurt a good deal, sometimes for a lifetime.

Are you a name-brand kinda person?  From tea to jeans, consumer goods have names.  Designer names enjoy high status.  Generic names, usually unpronounceable, are inconsequential; it’s the item, not the name that sells.  Some people like a label blazoned across their bottoms and their handbags; others refuse to buy an item with a name on the outside.

Key to this column, is the name gameNames are essential to our mind being able to describe, categorize or classify information. Names are therefore, not inherently good or bad.

Using language demands we name things.  But when we attribute meaning to names, we risk social or cultural misunderstanding.

As to nicknames, one name in particular that I and probably a good number of my generation, have had to uncomfortably revert back to its original, is Dick.  Until recent years, this was the casual name for Richard.  But this use has gone by the wayside and is now considered archaic.  Dick, was also in the olden days, short for detective.  But, today, the word is understood in popular culture as a pejorative for a stupid, mean, or contemptible person, especially a man.

Short for Beverly, my nickname is Bev.  This is my preferred moniker.  As with most children, who kinda know they’re in trouble when mom uses their full name; I think I’m being monitored by the government when someone calls me Beverly.  However, when talking on the telephone I usually say I’m Beverly because in that context, Bev is often misheard as Beth.

Beverly has archaically been gender-neutral.  There was George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American Gospel singer, famously known for “How Great Thou Art” and “Just as I Am.”  My surname, Barton has been, as a given name, attributed to a number of aristocratic English gentlemen, meaning “from the barley settlement.”  No wonder I’m a fan of Sting’s, “Fields of Gold;” all about loving sentiment and the Barley Field.

Just so you know, what does your name mean?  More specifically, what does your name mean to you? 

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