What's In a Name?

Cool topic, much like theREAL ME in way

I was named david wendal
david is hebrew and means BELOVED BY GOD but to be honest i dont know if my parents actually knew that. It was my fathers name and while one poster said that being named after their fathr was amusing for them, my feeling has come to consider it selfish. Like HE was the important part of my name. But thats just personal ego feeling and therefore to great extent is a choice. Choice notwithstanding i now hold that my middle name is Hunter, because i think chicks think its sexy.

The literature on the subject usually asserts that names are deeply powerful. The first 2 examples which come to mind are rumplestiltsken where the magical creature is defeated by the use of his name and the traditional source of my own name, the hebrews, who substituted the name ADONAI rather than use casually the four letter name for god which they held to be his true name.

Also iguess most are famiiar with the tribal culture tradition of names "earned" by the named. Sitting bull being a calm and thoughtful man of great will and strength or DANCES WITH WOLVES (so jump right up and show your age mr jimmy buffet yeah) where the protaganist recieved his soiux name for befriending a wild wolf.

actually now i think about it im suprised that the sith were portrayed as having this tradition of renaming but tbe jedi were not
There is a tradition among many esoteric societies whereby an initiate ascends from the common place level of every day life into the magical level of communion with the spiritual world as a result of symbolic death
this proccess was often facilitated by the initiate casting off their old name and taking a new one.

Symbolically names are very powerful.

I'm named after Richard The Lionheart (we look a lot alike, my nose is bigger) and Michael the Aarchangel, (we'd look more alike if he had a beard and I had wings). I'm Ok with that.

When I was a kid I was called Little Rickie, (my mom loved Lucille Ball, her TV son was Little Rickie Recardo). I was also called Rick Rock Head for my stubborness. Well deserved I might add. My extended family called me Rick and still does.

As an adult, at least chronologically, I go by Rich, that came about long before I became a financial advison. So that's a name that "works" for me now.

Usually I introduce myself to strangers as Richard. I don't know why. I just like the formal sound of it.

Little Rickie and Rickie are creaping back in as I experience my second childhood. Thank god!

I guess my name is who I am at the time.

You can call me by any name you wish just be sure to call me for dinner.

Don't call me what my daddy calls me..... :ohmy:

That was fun.

I was named after Ricky Nelson, but I didn't get any of the heartthrob vibe, so I kinda feel gyped!

girls named crystal, krystal, christal, etc ? any thoughts?

New age brainless? Is that where your going?

lol, no, i'm looking for peoples' actual thoughts on girls they've known named Chrystal Crystal etc.

i've know a lot of people named chris. i used to joking say "never trust anyone named chris.", and i was almost named chris. lol

i've never really ^known a girl named crystal. i have know several christieZ however.

it just seems that last year all these crystals came out of the woodwork online

How about names like Candy & Cherry?

haha, never knew a candy or a cherry, but one of my dogs was named Diamond, as well as a very special senorita i once knew and that was her real name.

I don't feel any personal connection to my name per say, but I do like all the nicknames that can come out of it (Robert = Rob, Bob, Bobby, Robbie, Bert, Reno, etc.), even if I only ever end up being called Rob. I do kind of like Robin as a nick and have used it once or twice.

My family name, Brochhausen, can be a bit of a thorn at times, but I've gotten used to explaining the pronunciation and spelling over the years.

Since it was brought up, though, I do feel a bit of a connection to my name here, Par Candroon, even if it was chosen completely at random from a SW name generator. It's like my Jedi persona in a similar facet to wearing a costume to aid meditation by entering a certain mindset. One of the reasons I introduced myself as Par. This came after deciding against Dash Rendar after the protagonist of one of my favorite/most hated N64 game Shadows of the Empire.

Names are tricky and as OB1Shinobi noted there is a great deal of research on the topic or more specifically the impact of our name on our lives. While not well referenced (however well sourced) I think the meta-analysis that Adam Alter did in Drunk Tank Pink is very concise analysis of the impact of names on life long outcomes like vocation.

As for changing your name I wonder if this is not like other types of identity? The people I have known who have changed their names had a deeply held conviction that they were a different name in the same way that the people I know who are transgender had a deeply held conviction that they were a different gender.

As for online names I think those are a snapshot of someones deeply held beliefs but they change. For example my name Ratcliffe is a reference to Hilton Ratcliffe who was incredibly important to me when I joined the TotJO. However, if I was going to create an online today it would be Peratt referencing Anthony Peratt who Ratcliffe's work lead me to. To that end I think online name are a snap shot and ascribed names (either from birth or self selected) are a guidepost.