names have always fascinated me. how they sound, what they mean, the impression they give to others.
when i say that i'm interested in what names mean, i don't mean in that literal sense where "cameron" means "crooked nose" in gaelic, and "ariel" means "lion of god" in hebrew. i mean, what do they mean for our lives? how does a name affect the way we're perceived, and the way we perceive ourselves?
i could go on about names for days. seriously.
but here's today's query: when does one "become" their name? additionally, has the internet changed that?
here's what i mean: when i was younger, i used to try imagining myself with another name. usually it was one of the alternates that i knew my mom had wanted to name me, and that my dad had shot down. sometimes it was a friend's name, or just a random name i'd heard. i had a hard time doing it, even tho i'm not particularly fond of the name i have.
often, i'd ask my friends what they thought my name should be, if it wasn't the name i'd been given. they would always argue that they couldn't see me as anything else. it's true that it's very hard to come up with name "b", when one is acquinted with someone by name "a".
that's where my addendum about the internet comes in. when one is known as "girlsetsfire", "music_is_my_boyfriend", or some random email address, do real names matter? when it's so easy to come up with an alternate you online, does a proper name mean anything?
i'm sure that several of you out there know kelly, aka emma: which do you call her in your head? is emily the strange named as such in your mind? (hint: that's not her real name. shock.)
and now a couple of self-indulgent questions: [reference photos below]
1. what do you think my name is? [if you don't already know].
2. who/what [in terms of names] do i "look like"?
3. if you do know my name, do you think it "fits"? alternatively, what other name do you think i could pull off?
i don't often pimp my diary, but i'm hoping that there are some (relative) newbies reading this entry to answer my questions. as explained above, i'm not sure my faves/regulars will be able to answer in an unbiased manner, but they can surely try (and i encourage them to give it a shot).
[i look like this:]
i'm not planning on changing my name or anything like that. like i said, i'm not head over heels in love with my name, but at the same time i can't picture myself as anything else. this is just an exercise in fun/curiosity. |