The Name Game

What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title.

Names are very important - just ask any expectant parent who's pored over a baby name book trying to pick out just the right moniker to hang around their offspring's neck for the rest of its life, or any kid whose parent didn't use enough caution.  Names are crucial.

Everyone has a name.  Most names have meanings.

Declan: an Irish name meaning "full of goodness."
Chloe: a Greek name meaning "verdant and blooming."
Hinata: a Japanese name meaning "sunflower."
Amani: a Persian name meaning "security, trust."

But here's a fun fact about names: while in Western cultures, most people use the same name (or, at least, the same first name) from birth to death, this isn't the case the world over.  For example, in some Native American traditions, a person may use different names at different points in their lives: a child has a child's name, an adolescent takes on a new name when they outgrow their childhood name; as adults, they may take on names that are descriptive of their achievements or their experiences.1 

So how do you handle names in your writing?

Do you use strictly Western/European conventions?  Do you explore the conventions of a non-Western part of your own heritage?  I, personally, tend to use Western conventions, just because that's where my head is at and, frankly, I do enough research for school.  Writing is supposed to be fun.

But I'm arriving at a point where I have to figure out what to do about names.  Because the thing about a name is that it isn't just a sound that identifies you to other people - it can be symbolic of how you think of yourself.

Consider a scenario.  Jake is an ordinary fellow from, say, Detroit, who is going about his ordinary life.  One day, an extraordinary thing happens to him, and in the process of dealing with that, he learns something he never knew about his heritage: part of his family comes from a different culture: they're from the Isle of Man, and they live a traditional Irish peasant lifestyle and speak only Manx Gaelic.  He goes on a trip to learn about that part of his family, and when he meets them, they hang a different name on him.  They begin calling him Laoidheach.  (That's pronounced Lee-ach, by the way.)  

Now, even though Jake might answer to Laoidheach, and recognize that it's the name his Manx-speaking relatives have attached to him, he obviously still thinks of himself as Jake.  When he writes letters home, they're going to be signed "Love, Jake."  But what if he stays on the Isle for a long time?  Suppose he decides he loves it there and he wants to become a recluse writer, and he relocates there to live among his Irish family?

Suppose that, while he's there, he undergoes a life-changing event or two.  Maybe he learns things about himself that he never suspected were true, and he starts to realize that he's changed; he's not the same Jake who graduated from Kettering High School, dropped out of the University of Michigan, and worked at GM.  He's different now.  He's changed.

So one day he writes a letter home to his sister, and he signs it Laoidheach.  In his mind, he starts referring to himself as Laoidheach.  He has become a new person with a new name.

So how would you handle that if you were writing it?  Because I have a character in a similar situation, and the Point of Change is coming soon.  So I'm very, very interested in hearing how some of you might handle it.



1. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/whats-in-name/201107/names-and-identity-the-native-american-naming-tradition