(no subject)

[arethinn]

so what's wrong with changing a name to reflect one's current state? is there something in the great book of all things bad against that? sure, i guess, confusing for people on mailing lists.. but if I named myself "Elisann Tulgey" at the moment, after the Tulgey Wood in "Jabberwocky" (which is rather how I feel at the moment - dark, confused, but with wonder and fantastical things hiding in the shadows), would it be somehow wrong not to keep that when it passed? to keep changing my name or part of my name as circumstances dictated?

Comments

[digitalsidhe.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on how often you change your name. Every day? Every week? Too often. It will just make everyone go, "Yeah, what-everr," and settle on one for you, just to stop the insanity (and confusion).

Every couple of years? Doable. Maybe pushing it, in some folks' opinions, but doable.

Every decade? Perfectly respectable, in my book.

Less often than that? Perhaps a bit more introspection is called for. Or a bit less stagnation.

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

It would be less often than that - probably every few months or so.

Just out of curiosity, and for the data point since I respect your opinions, do you think that would be too often for me? Or do you not know enough about me to make that judgement? Or the questio might be, to keep within the parameters of your comment, do you think it's lack of sufficient instropection, or too much stagnation that would lead to such for me?

If you have no clue, that's a fine answer - just if you have any thoughts on the matter I'd like to hear them. They'd be interesting if nothing else.

[digitalsidhe.livejournal.com]

I don't know if once every few months would be too often for you, but I'm pretty sure it's too often for other people. A name is a personal thing, yes, but it's also an item of social convention. People around me know to say "Kai" if they want my attention (and it'd be neat if a few people would occasionally call me "Kagan", but I ain't holding my breath), and I know that if someone says "Kai," then it's me they want.

And everyone's gotten used to that. If I suddenly decide to -- heck, let's say I just decide to use my middle name, David. People are not in the habit of calling me "Dave" or "David". They don't think of me as David. It would take at least three or four months for them to get used to that (probably more like six), and the only way it would happen is if I trained them to it by never responding to Kai. (Which would require training myself, too -- looking around at the sound of one's name is pretty reflexive.)

Yes, I know this is really a practicality issue, not a spiritual one. But if there are big practicality problems with a thing like this, it will get in the way of the spiritual effect. If you're constantly having to battle against everyone's ingrained habits (including your own!), that energy is taken away from actually walking the path. Make sense?

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

As I responded to Autumn - I'm not trying to get masses of people to refer to me as something different. This is for online use only. I just want something to put on my emails and newsgroup posts (except business stuff where I would use my real name) that can be used pretty much anywhere, instead of the collection of "themed" names that I have now. Should I meet anyone new under this name, they'd probably come to think of me that way, so it needs to be something I wouldn't mind being called (such as at a coffee klatch for a mailing list or something), but I'm not intending to convert over from Lisa or anything like that.