Whats in a Name

You might be wondering what s 'Whats in a Name'. After all the billion people in the world have a name. Iam certainly not a name specialist to give much insight on names but i would try to share few things which i have come to learn. what prompted me to write this post was a series (Ok, not a series, but a few) events which set me thinking about the impact our name has in our life. Dont worry folks, i won’t be dwelling on explaining scientific things about names origin, their relevance etc. Let me see, how i proceed with it. Maybe I would start explaining it in a serious note and then view the lighter side of it.

There is a saying that ‘Names’ are for people, what ‘labels’ are for objects. You get identified by who you are (by the name) and it does have a impact people perceive you.



I came across this part in net that:
"A number of years ago, the newspapers ran a story about a young man who re-enlisted in the Navy during the time he was hospitalized for tonsillitis. Ordinarily, an event like this wouldn't attract public notice. What gave this story its appeal, though, was the fact that the man's name was Tonsillitis Jackson,"

Everything about a person sends a signal about himself to the outside world. It could be tangible things like the way you dress, the richness of your costumes, but there are a lot many intangible things like his persona and the way he carries himself. Name is one such thing that has a big significance. I came to know that when people call by your first name, your personal aura gets amplified. (If you are wondering what personal aura is, either keep wondering or find it out yourself.) i can assume that you would be googlish enough to find that out real quick. Unlike me, who had to find it out the hard way !

When i was in middle school, Our English teacher mentioned about the ‘aura’ in the class. Something along the lines of yourself aura getting multiplied when people call you by your first name. Being too young to understand what aura was, I and my friend did what all kids would do. “Ask people around you”. Well, that indeed proved to be a bad decision. I learnt the power of individual-brainstorming. As in brainstorming - is discussion in a group with each member coming up with different views on the topic. Individual brainstorming is when you ask each person his views individually.. You would be amazed to learn that you get different answers for the same question. I asked about personal aura to 15-20 friends and I got 15-20 different interpretations of 'aura'.

Agreed that English is a funny language and it does have an impressive list of homonyms. (Similar names but different meanings) i.e. "Jam" referring to bread-jam or Traffic jam. There are even words which has 3 different meanings. But if a word had 15-20 meanings, then no wonder, it should be definitely having the power to make an impact in your life. Coming back to the interpretation of ‘aura’ after getting different explanations, (ranging from “Aura- it should be one’s height”, “Aura – your weight”, “Aura - the pocket-money you get” to even “Aura –your breath”. The right meaning also found its way into this. “Aura - Charm or Air around a person). Being kids, our first choice was to decide that “Aura is the pocket money”. I and my friend planned that would call each other by our first names loudly every 1 minute and see how much our pocket money increases. We were like two explorers who have found the secret way to multiply our money.. That day we went home to see what happens to our pocket money.. My case was better, I didn’t receive any pocket money, my friend’s case was worse. Not only didn’t he receive any extra money, he lost the pocket money which he had.. Not a good omen. That was the end of the ‘Aura-money” scheme.Gradually, I got to know its real meaning at a later period.


Now few of my recent experiences about the Names.. This is about one of my friend in my college. Hopefully assuming that they wont be reading my blog, Iam confidently sharing the incident. In the college,prior to the first day , a list of students in each section is displayed. The second thing we look for in the list (First thing, what one sees is the number of girls in the section) is to look whether your name figures next to any girls names. I wasn’t that lucky yet my friend was very happy. The reason next to him was a girl named “Komal”. His joys knew no bounds and I guess probably he would be imagining things given the girls name itself was so soft (Komal means Soft in Hindi). The first day started and we came in and took our seats. My neighbor was busy looking for a girl to enter through the door and sit beside him. Poor fellow, he waited and waited. He was so oblivious to others boys around him that he didn’t notice that a boy had sat beside him. Obviously, he thought that boy had sat there by mistake.. But being the first day, and to display politeness, he just kept mum but inside cursing the boy to occupy someone’s else seat.. Finally during the attendance, it was to the class surprise when the boy in the girls seat raised his hand, in replying to the roll call of “Komal”. Well, something’s are bound to happen that way…

Finally on an ending note, had come across this joke about name of companies.
“Ever notice a theme in company names?
If it's a single somewhat aristocratic sounding name such as "Bogglesworth of London, Est. 1793", they're most likely a tea, coffee, or wine importer.
If it's two names, such as Gilchrist & Soames or Avalon & Gray, they seem to deal with soap, skin care, or clothing products.
If it's three names, it's an insurance firm or small law firm.
If it's four names, it's an upper tier law firm.
If it's five names, it's a small law firm that's merged with a soap company.”

Happy reading. :)