What is your name?

We all have one. You may not like yours, it but you have one and you don’t like to be called by the wrong name. We hear or read of other people’s names everyday. You will have to repeat it to the laboratory health technician before they take blood. Hearing a name invokes a reaction such as favourable, curiosity or un-comfortableness. We are concerned with pronouncing, spelling and remembering a new name. We are averse to calling someone by the wrong name. How do you remember names? The Dale Carnegie way is to pay attention to some one’s name and repeat it along with a mental association. Salespeople develop contact lists. 

 Mr Rosuvastatin Rivaroxaban. Sounds like a medication. How do you pronounce or spell that? Do people call him Vas for short? We often give people nicknames? Not always complementary ones. When can you use them? How many nick names have you had? When is it all right to call someone Ginger? Some nicknames become enduring,  eclipsing the  real name. Well at least Senora Heloisa Eneida Paes Mendes Pinheiro, made it easy. She is the Girl from Ipanema.

Is Anne with or without an e? Allen or Alan? “Do you spell it with two ‘l’s? When meeting someone for the first time there is an impetus to comment on their name but this is not polite, unless you have the same name. If you carry a name like Montgomery, Bell- Irving, Rommel, Joyce, Irvin, Pattison or Tolstoy, everyone wants to know if you are related. People like to hear their name but using one’s first name immediately is not polite with certain cultures. Of course it is not always clear which name is the first name. Some people when introducing themselves, prefix their surnames with Mr, Fr. Sister, Mrs. Dr. or Baron. Some folk retain these titles. Mrs Tam plays tennis in our group. She has always been Mrs. Tam. Our Tom, who still lives near Wigan Pier, has always been our Tom. J.K. Rowling ,D.H. Lawrence, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S Forester, P.D. James and J.D. Robb are authors who have encrusted their names with initials. What about the Royals? Mr. Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor? Would Prince William invoke his distance relation’s name of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha for a bit of fun when sighing the visitor’s book? A big thank you to all those folk that anglicize their names. 

Which comes first: the song or the name? Michelle, Peggy-Sue, Tammy and Ginny or Roxanne? How many girls’ names songs can you recite? Where do names emanate? Flowers,  birds or characters in a Greek tragedy such as Homer's epic poem the Odyssey?  More  likely a top twenty list of popular names or personalities from the news. X Æ A-12 Musk, Covid and Corona: these names will define an era. Remember Moon Zapper? Also the comet Neowise might propel parents to register names.  Rembrandt, Picasso, Kandinsky, Caravaggio and Bansky are artists who are mononymous. We all know of mononymous  entertainers  such as Bono, Sting or Adele. Many entertainers adopt a pseudonym and we only learn their real name when they die. 

 I was bought up believing parents tried to ignore relations’ hints of naming the child after them, and found a saint’s name. The Rec. Phillip Moore, later to be promoted to Canon Moore, chanted John Francis Ego te baptizo in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti while pouring water on my brow. I was looking my best decked out in a christening shawl and giving thought to  receiving an apostle spoon. We might think if every parent just grabbed a good Saint’s name much name confusion would disappear. Not true. Thaddeus Alypius  Alphonsa are all saints’ names. Then we have the cultural problem of sticking Marie, Mary or Maria in the naming of many girls. A problem arises later in life with driving licenses and passports. Is Maria the first name or middle name? Which Mohamed played tennis last week? Is it his first or last name? The chess club has four Johns and the cycling club once had five Bills. There is always confusion in an office that has three Dianes. In the fireplace centre you first dealt with Jeff but now you are dealing with Geoff. Confusion unreleased. 

Whom do we expect at the door for Lesley and Sydney? The list of gender-neutral names is longer than you might think: Terry, Pat Joe Morgan, Taylor or Robin. These are gender fluid or non-binary names. Francis that will be a boy but Frances will be a girl. Have you noticed that musicians in a symphony often have awkward Slavic sounding names such as Glazunov or Rimsky- Korsakov. Is their name going with their image? Nominative determinism is when the person’s name matches their profession or personality. Cynthia Volts is an electrician. 

The name Karen began her epitome as a whimsical middle aged busybody who always asked to speak to the manager but her increased rudeness adds to a disparaging image. Be wary of naming your business venture with your name. What if the business fails or you wish to sell the company? 

I am wondering about that apostle spoon and whether to rebrand myself J.F. Joyce?