I’m a new parent, so I just got to (had to?) name someone for the first time. In my jurisdiction you actually have quite a while before you have to make that choice, but you do eventually need to make it. It speaks to lots of point in this essay:<p>My son certainly doesn’t know his name yet, but it’s how everyone addresses him. So it is definitely not an integral part of his identity, at least as he experiences it.<p>The name doesn’t have any meaning for me nor my wife. It is normal enough to be familiar, stands out enough to not disappear, is nice to abbreviate, sounds pleasing to our ears. But it also has nothing to do with him or his ancestry at all, except it’s ethnically congruous I guess.<p>So my son is not at all his name, probably for the only time in his life. It is a bit odd.
<p><pre><code> The fish trap exists because of the fish; once you've gotten the fish, you can forget the trap.
The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit; once you've gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare.
Words exist because of meaning; once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.
Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can have a word with him?</code></pre>
I'm not sure this article has any real meaning besides being a strained excuse to string a bunch of interesting tidbits together. Names mean different things to different people. Your name is your label. It's through your words and deeds you determine what meaning that label has.<p><i>So when someone asks, "Who are you," don’t tell them "Bud Baker," or "Larry Watterworth," or even your legal name. Tell them who you really are, and if they stick around, then tell them your human label.</i><p>I don't know if this is symbolic advice or just naive advice. That's obviously not a practical course of action.
I wrote here 7 months ago:<p>“Other people use your name, not you, so the name belongs to other people. Render unto Caesar, etc.<p>Your name refers to, not your identity (whatever that is), but <i>the idea of you in the heads of other people.</i>”<p>— <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28008263" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28008263</a>
This article is incredibly low quality and I don't say that lightly.<p>I agree that names don't mean much. This username is linked to a single GitHub account. The pseudonym I write under is entirely made up. I have no interest in brand recognition or getting hired because people recognize my name. In many ways, I think provenance is a cancer to the proliferation and building of truly <i>good ideas</i>. Instead, I'd rather people focus on the ideas I've presented and debate those - they, with hope, will live on a lot longer than my name will.<p>Lastly, since it brought up Jane Fonda and characterized her involvement in the war as a "visit": <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Fonda#Visit_to_Hanoi" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Fonda#Visit_to_Hanoi</a><p>Jane Fonda actively participated in the propagation of propaganda for her own entertainment and brand. She's quite well known in most veteran circles for calling people who had visible signs of torture and abuse "hypocrites and liars and pawns" when they told their stories, then tried to walk that back to, "I'm quite sure that there were incidents of torture ... but the pilots who were saying it was the policy of the Vietnamese and that it was systematic, I believe that's a lie."<p>History now shows us it <i>was</i> systemic and all she had to give was a very half-ass mea culpa for her <i>photo</i> in an AA gun that was used to shoot down US planes: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Fonda#Regrets" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Fonda#Regrets</a>
When I was 12 I selected an online name. Many people refer to me by that name and have nearly forgotten my real name (my last name for sure). Over high school, I had many names and developed a full-blown alias. This disturbed my father at the time.<p>A couple people I know live by these new names that we chose, even at work where they use their alias everywhere but on their taxes/employment record.
“Who knows a man's name, holds that man's life in his keeping. Thus to Ged, who had lost faith in himself, Vetch had given him that gift that only a friend can give, the proof of unshaken, unshakeable trust.”<p>Agreed with the comments that point out this 'article'/post is not exceptionally well written.<p>In general I would ask what is in a name. Yet I have always been my name, deeply and unshakably. With a 'foreign' name in a small town I could be mistaken for no one else and in that way my name was deeply bounded to me. It invoked perceptions, mistaken assumptions and every externalized characteristic. In time it was also mine to define through the time required to build a reputation that could, in some circles, precede me.<p>Now I work with four people who share my name. A cousin's daughter shares my name. It is one of the weirder day to day experiences of my life.
I changed my name when I got married but kept my pre-marriage name professionally and I can’t recommend the strategy more highly.<p>I have multiple numbers and emails so I can be who I want with a given audience.<p>Having recently relocated I decide whom to let on to my work name. For everyone else it’s as if I have almost no no digital presence, which is frankly a relief.
Lots of studies show names matter when getting a job, few suggest you change it, to something less ethnic for instance.<p>I also know hard names I will not say so I don't make a mistake, so I won't personally address that person, which will make the relationship more difficult.<p>It's interesting. Changing your name can increase your power. Hollywood has known this for year. Few people do it.<p>"Touch" by Claire North makes you really think about this in the digital age. IRL you have a body, so names are more detached, but as we go digital, names are all you have... currently. In the book the protagonist has an ephemeral body, so what is a person in that case?
Its actually illegal to use your legal name.<p>If you look at your birth certificate, it will say something like 'not to be used for id'.<p>So, what is the thing that we all use the birth certificate for?<p>We are actually committing fraud to use the birth certificate.