Thursday, March 20, 2008
Names and Nurturing
So I watched an episode of Northern Exposure last night that had to do with nurturing. I was left absolutely puzzled not by the theme of the episode (obviously) but by the insertion of Chris (the radio announcer) with a commentary on the importance of names. Is there some connection between nurturing and names? Is the name a reflection of the parents, of the community? Chris brings up in the episode that it is a claim on another human being. The right to name something offers you some authority over the child. Then he diverted into some talk about a girl he had a crush on in sixth grade and how he was obsessed with her name because he identified it with her and her alone. So it is also an identifier. Well now this makes naming very interesting. An identifier for ourselves that we do not choose, yet we ascribe to and others label us by. Is my name arbitrary or does it help better define me? You tell me.
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2 comments:
I was talking about the same thing with a friend last night. Her name means "bringer of joy" which she says is more accurate than the other name her parents were considering which would have meant "innocence". I think in many cases names are a reflection of the hopes that the parent has for the child. Wierd names hollywood celebrities give their children show that they want their kids to be different and unique. Rural families name their kids biblical names or something like Tucker so they value faith and want to stay on the farm. I was named Dan after Daniel Boon. (My dad's idea). My dad probably wanted me to be independent and rugged. My sister named my nephew Liam which means "unwavering protector". It is a traditional Irish name so the name is a relfection of our Irish/German heritage. If I ever have boys they are in serious danger of being named Ben Franklin or Thomas Paine Pensinger.
Some of both I think.
My initial reaction is to say arbitrary. However, when I was thinking about what I would name my children, I realized that many good names had to get crossed off the list because I already associated them with people I know or celebrities.
That being said, it is people's personality that brought about my positive/negative feelings about these names, not the name itself.
So for me, it's about finding a good sounding name that doesn't have any bad associations with it. I'll probably check the meaning too, just to make sure that it doesn't mean something evil.
Authority is another interesting concept. The Biblical story of Adam naming the animals points to man's authority over them. So yes, parents do give this symbolic authority. But a newborn can't name itself, so there isn't really any other option.
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