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What are people's thoughts on names that describe what you would like to be, or wish you were, rather than something you are?
That sort of name always feels like false advertising to me. If someone wants to name themselves "Morgana", for example, they had better have the personality and power to wear the name well; otherwise it is just silly and feels like self-aggrandizement or fluffiness (cf. "Lady Pixie Moondrip", for you Pagans out there).
I have been thinking about how names are acquired both in life and in myth, and it seems to me that the names that actually mean anything are generally the ones that are bestowed upon us. The names on our birth certificates, of course, are given by our parents. In some traditions one's initiatory name is given by the group or by one single other person, and not chosen for oneself. Nicknames and sometimes changes of "real" name are given by the family or peer group based on some physical or personality characteristic, or a deed (such as Setanta becoming Cu Chulainn after killing Culann's hound). Even those who have apparently changed their names for themselves (such as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tyrsalvia), I'm going to lay a small amount of money that the name seemed to be made obvious by circumstances, and not simply dreamt up because they liked it.
What all this is boiling down to is that I don't think I am ever going to be able to pick a name for myself, because that's "impure" - real names are given.
Part of the reason this is a problem in the first place is that I don't feel I can "be anyone" (skipping whether I am inherently capable of that in the first place) without having a name to hang it on, and I don't want to stick things to a name that gives others unfavourable first impressions of me (no matter how much I might like "night-forest star-song", it's a bad idea), or that I would later regret or outgrow. Without a name I am paralyzed.
That sort of name always feels like false advertising to me. If someone wants to name themselves "Morgana", for example, they had better have the personality and power to wear the name well; otherwise it is just silly and feels like self-aggrandizement or fluffiness (cf. "Lady Pixie Moondrip", for you Pagans out there).
I have been thinking about how names are acquired both in life and in myth, and it seems to me that the names that actually mean anything are generally the ones that are bestowed upon us. The names on our birth certificates, of course, are given by our parents. In some traditions one's initiatory name is given by the group or by one single other person, and not chosen for oneself. Nicknames and sometimes changes of "real" name are given by the family or peer group based on some physical or personality characteristic, or a deed (such as Setanta becoming Cu Chulainn after killing Culann's hound). Even those who have apparently changed their names for themselves (such as
tyrsalvia), I'm going to lay a small amount of money that the name seemed to be made obvious by circumstances, and not simply dreamt up because they liked it.What all this is boiling down to is that I don't think I am ever going to be able to pick a name for myself, because that's "impure" - real names are given.
Part of the reason this is a problem in the first place is that I don't feel I can "be anyone" (skipping whether I am inherently capable of that in the first place) without having a name to hang it on, and I don't want to stick things to a name that gives others unfavourable first impressions of me (no matter how much I might like "night-forest star-song", it's a bad idea), or that I would later regret or outgrow. Without a name I am paralyzed.
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Date: Oct. 20th, 2005 03:54 am (UTC)From:Basically: my current one is a placeholder. I'll keep it for use as such until I find something that I can really call "my name". I don't expect that to happen, though.
So I've gotten gradually comfortable with being nameless. It's a bit strange, but I suppose it fits.