There are many cultures that place a huge importance in names and the naming of their child. In these cultures a name is more than a nice-sounding label, a name can tell a story and pave way for a destiny. Many believe that while it might be easy to brush off names as less important than personality or parenting, it's not so far-fetched to say that a name is one's destiny.
There is a fair amount of research in our society that backs up something called "nominative determinism.” This is the theory that a name may influence career, professional life, and even who you choose to marry (“Nominative Determinism”). While scientists and writers alike have put hours into these studies, I don’t necessarily agree with their analysis. The belief that “the name makes the person” or that a name will signify all future successes and failures of an individual is completely lost on me. It's important to remember that the meanings we associate with names, and not the names themselves, are the product of heritage, upbringing, culture and the world we live in. Identity then, in fact, does not hinge on a name, but the importance that we place on a name. It is derived from who gave you your name and why.
This can be very complicated and perplexing issue to immigrants as they work to make their way in a new country. Manuel Munoz exemplifies this point when he states, “Ours, then, were names that stood as barriers to a complete embrace of an American identity, simply because their pronunciations required a slip into Spanish, the otherness that assimilation was supposed to erase”(114). In making this comment, Munoz is asserting his claim that without Americanizing his name, he would never truly fit in. That he could never really identify h...
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...ries. Because, after all, “it’s not the name that matters. It’s the person who stands behind it” (Kosic 54).
Works Cited
Dubner, Stephen J., and Steven D. Levitt. "Trading Up: Where Do Baby Names Come
From?" Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for Composition. Ed. Robert Atwan. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 118-21. Print
Kosic, Milos. "It's Not the Name That Matters." Convergences: Themes, Texts, and
Images for Composition. Ed. Robert Atwan. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 52-54. Print.
Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. Print.
Munoz, Manuel. “Leave Your Name at the Border.” Convergences: Themes, Texts, and
Images for Composition. Ed. Robert Atwan. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 112-117. Print.
"Nominative Determinism." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Mar. 2014. Web.
16 Mar. 2014.
O'Connor, Flannery. "Everything That Rises Must Converge." Literature: An Inroduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 7th ed. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Longman, 1999. 340-51.
Although Shakespeare may disagree, there’s a lot to be said about names, especially those of Pharaohs. Ramesses III had a very common birth name, as most Pharaohs of the 20th dynasty named their children after Ramses II. Ramesses literally means “Re has created him.” The second part of his birth name (hardly ever used), Heqainunu, means “Ruler of Heliopolis” (an ancient city just north of modern day Cairo). The throne name of Ramesses III was Usermaatre Meryamun, or "Powerful is the Justice of Re, Beloved of Amun.
Immigrants have helped shape American identity by the languages they speak from their home country. Richard Rodriguez essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans” reveals Rodriguez’s attitudes towards race and ethnicity as they relate to making people know what culture really identifies a person rather than their race. For example, in the essay, it states that Richard Rodriguez “ is Chinese, and this is because he lives in a Chinese City and because he wants to be Chinese. But I have lived in a Chinese City for so long that my eye has taken on the palette, has come to prefer lime greens and rose reds and all the inventions of this Chinese Mediterranean. lines 163-171”.
As Rodriguez is looking back at the rise of his “public identity”, he realizes that “the loss implies the gain” (Rodriguez 35). He believes that losing a part of who you (such as your “mother tongue” is permitted since
There are many reasons why people may feel self-conscious; in which, others may or may not, be able to relate to. “My Name’’ is the fourth chapter in The House on Mango Street and in this chapter, Esperanza and I share some similarities. Being named after a relative, born in the Chinese year of the horse, and a dislike in our own name are similarities we share in this chapter. [Esperanza] “In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means to many letters’’(10). Esperanza expresses a dislike in her name due to the length stating, that her name it is too long. When I was younger, I felt the same as my parents placed upon me three middle names at birth. I to felt my name was too long. I would feel embarrassed when my family would address me by my full name although, they would only do so if I was
In life, people basically know who you are only if they know your identity. But the meaning of identity can be a factor of things that represents who they are based on a person's belief. For some people, their name is their identity. In the article, "Why Should Married Women Change Their Names? Let Men Change Theirs" by Jill Filipovic, the author argues how women, who change their last names to their husband's, consequently lose their "basic marker of their identity" (Filipovic 25). The author makes this argument to question if there is a such thing as family unity if a woman gives up her last name to "[subsume her] own identity into [her] husband's" (Filipovic 26). The author's claims and views on the issue may seem not completely fair since
In Chinese culture, names are not merely "labels" to distinguish one from the other nor are they used as "mediums" that "reflect" one's identity and individuality; names represent all the long-term greetings and expectations from parents to children. A name is the essence of a person, and it is a gift (the first gift) from parents to be carried for the rest of one's life.* A person's name is like a title of a book or poem: we use a title to identify the nature of the book and its "essence", while we use a name to identify a person and his/her individuality. Chinese name is distinctive in a sense that each name has a story behind it, e.g. June's mother named her twin daughters in China "Chwun Yu" and "Chwun Hwa" since they were born in spring ("Chwun"), "Yu" (rain) was given to the first born and "Hwa" (flower) to the second which indicate their sequence of birth ("rain comes before flower": par. 88); furthermore, rain and flower are nature's elements that exist for one and the other, indicating these twin daughters would stay inseparable.
“Be who want to be,create a name for yourself”(Unknown). Being one is the greatest gift to society. Creating a name for one is important and key to striving in throughout society. A name will never define someone as a person. The person will define the name. The article “ ‘Black’ Names: A Resume Burden?” by Bootie Cosgrove- Mathers discusses, the burden many parents of color face when choosing their child 's name. The stereotypes set out throughout society on if a parent of color should name their children “black” sounding names is significant. Parents of color should name their children “black” sounding names to embrace their black identity, bring across equality, and end the negative stereotypes that come with “black” sounding names.
names are prevented from being able to reassimilate within society, they are the outcasts. It also
Another struggle for identity with Latinos is their struggle with the Spanish and English languages. While some Latinos may speak Spanish in their homes, the language may not be conversationally used in their schools. Some Lat...
“Can you imagine what a mess a world would be without names? (website)Names are very important to a person and their individuality. Ayn Rand’s novel “Anthem” is a book in which the people written about do not have names. The importance of having your own individual names is huge. A name can have meaning given to it, like how the name Sue means lily. Most parents when giving you your name have a meaning behind it and put much thought into what their future child should be named. Names can give you a part of your identity.
How important is your name? In “No Name Woman” by Susan G Kingston she talks about her nameless aunt who has committed adultery and is forgotten because of it. Chinese culture is very strict and non-forgiving it caused this woman to commit suicide along with her new born child because she couldn’t take the torture of living and constantly being judged for a possible mistake. This world that Kingston lived in names were like a privilege. If you did something to distort the Chinese culture your family along with the outsiders would forget you like you never existed.
A name symbolizes what that person means and stands for. Renaming is an act of changing who you want the world to see you as. Naming and renaming is an important concept throughout Toni Morrison’s Beloved. A name is an identity that allows one to identify as a human being. A name is full of history, culture, and individuality. In Beloved, a name is both a source of freedom and a source of degrading history. Naming transforms and alters one’s future and history.
I have read an account called " 'What's in a Name? " ", which is composed by Henry Louis Gates. This account demonstrates to us a youth experience of the creator that happened amid the mid-1950s. In the article, Gates alludes to an occurrence when a white man, Mr. Wilson, who was well disposed with his dad, called his dad "George", a name which was a prominent method for alluding to African Americans in those circumstances. In any case, Gates' dad needed to acknowledge this separation and couldn't make a move around then. By utilizing sentiment to bring out individuals' enthusiastic reaction, and utilizing suggestion, Gates effectively communicates his claim that name shapes individuals' discernments
Is your name your identity? And if not, is it possible to maintain a stable and truthful inside identity when deprived of all signs of uniqueness such as your own name?