changingminds.org

How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

| Menu | Quick | Books | Share | Search | Settings |

What’s In a Name?

 

Guest articles > What’s In a Name?

 

by: Deb Calvert

 

One of the first things our parents give each of us is a name. Our names may be steeped in tradition, created, mixed and matched, debated, tried out, and lovingly conferred even before we are born. Our names are special.

Despite the care that goes into bestowing a name on someone, names are often used casually and can even be disrespected by others. In fact, people are often asked to change their names as if they were simply changing their shoes. Some instances include:

When it’s inconvenient to have another person of the same name in a group, the newcomer is sometimes asked to use a middle name or may be given a nickname. Of course, this doesn’t change the fact that the real name is the one that both will respond to and that the replacement name will always seem odd and out-of-place for the one whose name has been altered.

When a child is young, a diminutive version of their name may be used by others. For me, Deb became Debbie. Ask any Sue, Katherine, Tom, John, Bill or Joe – they will tell you that they have been called Susie, Katy, Tommy, Johnny, Billy or Joey at some point. As an adult, I prefer not to be called “Debbie.” I don’t hear many men called by their childhood name, and I prefer to use the “grown-up” version of mine, too. This is a matter of personal choice, and that choice should be made by the name-holder.

In the past two centuries, many immigrants to the U.S. had their names changed by shipping agents or immigration officials. Americanized versions of ethnic names may have expedited assimilation but the family names that were lost are missing links to our heritage.

When there are American versions or English pronunciations of ethnic names or when a name is not familiar to the masses, many succumb to common use rather than correcting their name. Juans become Johns and Jorges become Georges. Names that are difficult for Americans to pronounce or remember get abbreviated. My husband has an American name, but it is an unusual one. Instead of explaining it, spelling it, and correcting it, he has adopted a near-sounding variation of it. And my son has had more than one teacher that has used only a letter for a last name rather than asking students to say, spell, remember and correctly pronounce the full name.

In a recent news story, the parents of a Nebraska child were reportedly asked to change his name because it made others uncomfortable. The three-year-old boy is deaf, and the standard sign in S.E.E. sign language for his name resembles a pointed gun. The school’s teachers refused to use the sign when speaking to him, and this confuses him.

So, what’s in a name? Does it matter if we call people by something other than their given or chosen name? Is this a big deal or not?

Apparently, parents think it matters. Across all cultures and even in primitive times, names have been given with care and consideration. Naming someone is our first formal way of differentiating an individual from every other person. Publicly celebrating or registering a name is also a ritual that is widely practiced, in both a civic and a religious manner for many cultures. Names are used in virtually every legal transaction throughout a person’s life. They are recorded on birth certificates and on death certificates, bookmarking the life of an individual.

Similarly, people who are faced with a name-changing life event also seem to think there is significance in the adoption of a new name. Adoptions, marriages, celebrity name changes (remember all the press coverage in 2008 when Destiny Hope Cyrus legally changed her name to Miley Ray Cyrus?) and other life events that involve a new name are planned and celebrated. Choices are made, and an event occurs. After that time, if someone has chosen to change their name, we are all expected to respect that new name and to use it.

Freud believed that purposefully mispronouncing someone’s name was an intentional statement of power, a disrespect that essentially said “you are not important enough for me to call you by your given name.” Politicians in recent times have used this intentional slight (i.e. when George H.W. Bush persisted in mispronouncing Saddam Hussein’s name). At some level, when people really matter to us, we do invest time and care in learning their name and in saying it correctly. So it makes sense that not learning and using their preferred name would suggest the opposite – that we don’t care enough to do so.

Intentional or not, it can feel like a slight when someone doesn’t bother to remember or correctly pronounce your name. Greater sensitivity to how people feel about their name is something that would benefit everyone. I don’t mind at all when someone double checks by asking a question like “Do you prefer ‘Deb’ or ‘Debbie?” In fact, I feel that is respectful and considerate. I’ve talked to others who have names that are challenging to pronounce, and they tell me that it rankles them when someone repeatedly butchers their name without asking for help with pronunciation. And I’ve talked to lots of people who tolerate but never really appreciate being given a nickname or replacement name to please a group.

To connect with others, it’s important to start with the basics. And a name is as basic as it gets. Hearing, remembering, correctly pronouncing and respecting the name someone wants to go by is an easy thing to do.


Deb Calvert is President, People First Productivity Solutions

www.peoplefirstps.com

408-779-0195


Contributor: Deb Calvert

Published here on: 09-Dec-12

Classification: Development

Website: www.peoplefirstps.com

 

Site Menu

| Home | Top | Quick Links | Settings |

Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

 

You can buy books here

More Kindle books:

And the big
paperback book


Look inside

 

Please help and share:

 

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

* Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

About
Guest Articles
Blog!
Books
Changes
Contact
Guestbook
Quotes
Students
Webmasters

 

| Home | Top | Menu | Quick Links |

© Changing Works 2002-
Massive Content — Maximum Speed

Site Menu

| Home | Top | Quick Links | Settings |

Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

 

 

Please help and share:

 

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

+ Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

About
Guest Articles
Blog!
Books
Changes
Contact
Guestbook
Quotes
Students
Webmasters

 

| Home | Top | Menu | Quick Links |

© Changing Works 2002-
Massive Content — Maximum Speed