naming

[threeplusfire]

The last name I currently used is my married name. I didn't change it back after the divorce for a lot of reasons and one of them was vanity. I love this name. It suits me. I love to roll the Slavic vowels out, and I like to be able to introduce myself in Czech or Russian with a reasonable sounding name. It was my joke for awhile that I got married only to get that name. I can't figure out if it is more or less funny these days.

At some point in the future, I'll probably change it. It is a little strange to go on and on with a family name that belonged to someone I can't deal with anymore and represents a life that is not mine now. There's no going back to my maiden name, because I'm not that person at all anymore so it feels unwieldy to do so. So another name may be needed in the future.

I think if I were to change my name, just on my own, that I would like to do for something very serious and real to me. I'd take the name of someone who has influenced my world, like one of my favorite Czech authors or even my professor Hana. I'd like something like that. Having gone through the tedious process of changing my name once before, I'm better equipped for a second go round through the bureaucracy.

(No, I'm not going to change my name to Dostoevsky no matter how tempting.)

Comments

[lawnrrd]

What about "Dzhugashvili"?

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Hahahah, oh even better. I just imagine how many ways people could misspell that.

My doctor....

[bjohnson.livejournal.com]

I discovered, through a rather twisty channel, that my doctor's name is completely fictitious. She had been a Hindu nun for quite some time and then, when she left the ashram, she chose another name for herself. --I rather like that idea as I've never been very fond of either my first or last name.

I had a chance to chose a name for myself when I converted and needed a Hebrew name. Then, I realized that my middle name, David, would do quite nicely. I've sometimes wondered if I should ever take my wife's maiden name, Nightingale. She only changed it when she was six months pregnant with the first child, Ananda, and has a frightful row with her parents.

I made sure that my children have interesting names: Ananda and Batya. Ananda goes by Annie and Batya is just Batya (when I don't call her by the nickname I gave her, Cookie). For a while, when Abby hadn't changed her last name to mine, we thought we might give girl children her last name and boy children my last name. --But that didn't happen. --And, by the way, Abby isn't short for Abigal because her parents had the good sense not to mame her Abigal Nightingale. Ananda's Hebrew name is Chava (little bird) and Batya's Hebrew name is Batya. Ananda is Sanskrit for Ultimate Bliss. Batya means Daughter of G-d, which we felt was appropriate after having two miscarriages between child first and second.

I think a lot about names, as you might think after reading this most protracted comment.

[kevinblanchard.livejournal.com]

I once considered changing my last name to the last name many knew me by (because it was my DJ name for 5+ years) - Kevin Nykon. Which I like but Im the last male in my family with my name so I want to continue the name. I've also always wanted to change my first name to Dax. Dax Blanchard kind of has a cool ring to it :)

[newbabel.livejournal.com]

I love this post. I really do.

Names are more than just a collection of letters or sounds. That come with them an entire identity. I could not readily change my name to Poe or Shakespeare without drawing an obvious comparison. But I happen to know someone who changed their name and was always the happier for it.

You are who you are today by choice, my dear friend. Why not choose your name while you're at it?