A rose by any other name...

[Annalixa]

Names.

We're named at birth. Our families have names. Our deities have names. Sometimes we change our names, or convention changes them, or we make or receive additional ones.

My name has always been a big deal for me, both first and last. My first name is pretty common throughout languages, with many variations and nicknames. My last name is not so much, and I consider it a tie to my heritage. I feel that both are very much a part of who I am. If I had been named differently, I do think I would be different from who I am now. Whether I give it up when I get married is still up for debate.

I'm very particular about who knows it (so I'm not going to post it here), forms used (I refuse to use any of the nicknames since I don't feel they're ME) and also about who calls me by which name--since many people use my last name as a nickname. Which name you use with me is an indicator of where you are within my system of relationships.

On a more abstract note, I do think our names for things (and language in general) have quite a considerable role in determining our reality (I'm kind of a nominalist in that sense). If you've ever read the book A Wind in the Door, the main character, Meg Murray, has the job of giving things and people their Name, which is indispensable when it comes to tapping any kind of power/self-worth/etc--in a nutshell, of course, and it's been a few years since I've read it. That's a pretty good representation of how I perceive the world.

*What are names to you?

*What is your name to you? Is it just a demonstrative tool for pointing out some specific being, or is it something that's CREATED part of your personality and who you are?

*What of your aliases: screen names, craft names, etc? Craft names I understand are probably too personal to outright reveal, but feel free to discuss how you came about it and what it means to you.

* And your deity, if applicable? What name(s) do they have? Are they speakable? Writable? Secret?  

[Fiddlers Green]

For me, there are names, and then there are Names.

A name is a label of convenience used to distinguish something from others like it.

A Name is the identity of a thing, or idea, or person.
It defines and is defined by a singularity. It is the very concept of what something is.

For me, my family name tells who came before me, my taken name is very close to my given name, and my Name is not for public consumption.
I tend to choose pseudonyms that serve the dual purpose of identifying me and what I wish others to see about me, while still being fairly representative of my own persona.

Names for my divinities are merely names, and not Names, altho I do know of several religions where the opposite is very true.  

[PurpleDragonsGems]

The names given to my sister and I are a reflection of what our mother wants for us. To be strong, intellegent women. We are named after four of the greatest monarchs in history, Queen Elizabeth I, Victoria the Great, Alexander the Great, and Catherine the Great (although my sister's spelling is 'Katherine').

My nicknames change on a regular basis. They reflect different things I've done, or something my friends and I were into at the time. My friends call me 'Vens', which is short for Venom, the Spider-Man villian. My neighbor calls me 'Aunt Flora' because I love my garden. My mother call my sister and I 'Flora' and 'Fauna' because I love plants and my sister loves animals. I've also been called 'the Pied Piper' because the kids in the neighborhood used to follow me around. So, just about every name I've ever had means something.  

[Kal Eldritch]

A name is the auditory stimulus that people choose to recognize you by. In that sense, your name defines you, or at least, is the title which everyone knows you as.

Like many, my name connects me to my heritage and through my ancestors comes my beliefs. It is a silvery line that connects me to the past, which is another thing that defines me.

My aliases are much more carefree. They are mearly an extension of what I like or how my personality presents itself. For example, Sovereign of Darkness just...sounds cool. That's all the thought that goes into it. King Goblin, another screen name, just represents another one of my likes. In DnD, and in popular fantasy now adays, I adore goblins. For whatever reason, even if repulsive, I find their seemingly impish characters to be appealing. King Goblin is the name of the one of the characters that i draw occasionally, though I have a much cuter interpretation of what a goblin looks like. blaugh

The names of my gods are farely well known. Odin (and any of his aliases), Thor, Braggi, Freya, etc. Unfortunately, my relationship with them is rather newly forged so I don't quite know what they think about their names.  

[Padmasana]

I hold the names that were given to me in high regard, but privately the names that I choose for myself tend to reflect who I am at that period in my life more intensely, if not for as long.  

[Annalixa]

Fiddlers Green

For me, there are names, and then there are Names.

A name is a label of convenience used to distinguish something from others like it.

A Name is the identity of a thing, or idea, or person.
It defines and is defined by a singularity. It is the very concept of what something is.

For me, my family name tells who came before me, my taken name is very close to my given name, and my Name is not for public consumption.

What purpose does your Name serve, then? Do you use it in magical workings? I can imagine using it as such gives it a very useful layer of personalization (maybe even power) in those cases.

Is it absolutely strictly private (that is, only you and your deities know), or is it kept a bit more open (family members, very close friends)?  

[Fiddlers Green]

Annalixa

What purpose does your Name serve, then? Do you use it in magical workings? I can imagine using it as such gives it a very useful layer of personalization (maybe even power) in those cases.

It serves the same purpose I serve, for it is me.
It defines me exactly in the same way that I define it.
And, personally, the less of myself I invest into experimentations, the better, I consider it far better to err on the side of caution in these matters.

Quote:

Is it absolutely strictly private (that is, only you and your deities know), or is it kept a bit more open (family members, very close friends)?

Most of the answers to this are oathbound, however, what I can share is this:
My society of scholars is completely secular.
Only omniscient entities know it in it's entirety.
I would never willingly share what I know of it.  

[saint dreya]

hmm. as with anything, my view on my name/s (given, adopted, or taken) changes with my age and experience. if you had asked me 10 years ago, i was going to change my name as soon as i turned 18. now, while not quite accurate as to who i am, it suffices for whatever people would wish to see me as.

my first name, while not common, does not define me in any sense. yes, i'll be one of the few people to literally meet 20 of the same first name, meanwhile a good number of my friends only have me as their experience. the last name, well, there is next to no connection as it is the typical Americanization of an immigrant occupation. my middle name i guard fiercely as it connects me to my great grandfather, a man i honor still to this day and remember in my rituals.

depending on who you talk to, my nicks are "drea", "nix", "young one", "changeling", "andimo", "smurf", "moe", "bug" and a number of things my mother decided to arbitrarily attach. some of them bare meaning, such as "changeling", "andimo" and "drea", as they each pretty much detail who that person is to me (the person using the name).

over time i have come up with a number of online handles that i would consider "magical names". i have since abandoned the practice of having a Craft name as i've grown very used to my own.

so far i agree with much of what Fiddler has placed as to the meaning of names. i would part when it came to Names. while i accept that one is capable of narrowing down a thing/person's existence to a few core concepts, i do not think they would be all encompassing. there are just some things that i think are beyond words.

this same perception is what i use with my Kindred. while i have been given a use name to which they will respond, either by them or common usage, i don't believe there is anything in verbal reckoning that would fully "command" or confine their essence.

as i see it boiled down, the verbal name has only as much power as the named being agrees upon.  

[CuAnnan]

I have three names.
My birth name. The name my family gave me.
My deed name. I earned through action and it bound itself to me inextricably.
And my Name. Many know one or the other of the first two. Thus far I have not met anyone with whom I am comfortable sharing that information. And I doubt I ever will.  

[Aki Norikaeru]

I define myself without a name, or rather the one I use I could not pronounce, though I see it in a similar light that Fiddlers Green sees his Name. I do have an idea of myself in my mind that I identify with but my names are just a way to single myself out. I hear it almost less, in fact, than; hey you, dude, hey man, you in the *clothing*, or some abstract nickname. Truthfully, at reading the first post, I thought you would be in the minority with your preferences toward your name. To me, I like hearing a few names, mostly Aki, but I never thought any name was tied to me. It seems so hollow, I have never meet a person that I could remember purely through their name, I have to move from remembering one action to the next one it brings up. If I just think Jessica, for example, I think of a few people, some of witch are not even named Jessica. A name to me is a way of getting some one's attention, for I know people through their actions, and my reactions. Though I have been proven to be an idiot with unconventional ways of doing things. stare ( xd ) Also, my screen name is a combination of Aki and an off-shoot to one of my favorite nickname, though this is because of the person that gave me these names, and how this person makes me feel.  

[Deoridhe]

I have a lot of names. Most people call me by my now-legal personal name, which is a modification of my given name, but a growing subset call me "Deo" or "Deoridhe" with varying levels of linguistic accuracy and skill. *grins at Wing* I also have what I call a True Name, and have had since I was about fifteen, but those who I told it to have forgotten it.

Ironic note on names - a while back we discussed sprit guides; I call my fylgia Serbius publically, and when other people mentioned their guides/companions/etc... being private or having private names, I asked him if he did. He responded 'of course' and I asked what it was, and he gave me the eternally suffering "patient look" and repeated my True Name to me. rofl Poor, longsuffering fylgia.  

[Fiddlers Green]

phoenix shadowwolf

so far i agree with much of what Fiddler has placed as to the meaning of names. i would part when it came to Names. while i accept that one is capable of narrowing down a thing/person's existence to a few core concepts, i do not think they would be all encompassing. there are just some things that i think are beyond words.

I should clarify, I seem to have left something out
A Name is no more words than the concept of word is a word.
All words are expressions of the concept of Word, yet even all words in this world taken together fully encompass it.
This is partially because we (my fellow scholars) use the term Name as a name, a label to help us identify the concept.
Name, when expressed perceptually has all manner of sensory effects. There is Shape, Flavour, Texture, Colour and any other number of expressions.  

[Poisen_Lotus]

I think names define you to a certain extent. Most people I know have names that fit there personality. I've grown to really like my name (Ginger) over the years becuase it rather unusual, especially for someone with dark hair. Plus it has associations with fire which is my astrological element. Other names I use on boards, ect. define me at that particular period of time, but don't have much lasting quality. As for my deity name I'm not really quite sure who she is, but I suspect that she might be artimis  

[With Motion]

Names are just arbitrary labels to me. I'm pretty sure the OP is alluring to a line in Romeo and Juliet, it's one I absolutely love and identify with.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweetly."

I don't care about my name at all. I hate my first name "Chris", because it's so common to the point that it's frustrating. My last name is extremely common too. I've never identified myself with names personally, probably because of this.

I love phoenetics and the way things sound. My online alias, Eshmasesh, just comes from me thinking for an hour or two about sounds, playing with them in my mouth, until I found something I liked to pronounce. Palatal Fricative. 3nodding If I could, I'd take classes in college to learn more.

PS: no religion...still...  

[Annalixa]

phoenix shadowwolf

the last name, well, there is next to no connection as it is the typical Americanization of an immigrant occupation.

My family lucked out with that, as our name, while decidedly "foreign" looking, didn't get altered at Ellis Island (as there are others of us still living in "the old country" with exactly the same name). When we did our first "immigration" unit in school I was almost angry at that--who were immigration authorities to alter something so historical and time-worn? That's like deigning to alter reality itself. Such arrogance! (It also bugs me that there are different versions of names across cultures. Gustavus Adolphus wasn't called Gustavus Adolphus in Swedish--why change it?)

Aki Norikaeru

Truthfully, at reading the first post, I thought you would be in the minority with your preferences toward your name.

I didn't know, to be honest. On the one hand, names are pretty personal on many levels--we can all agree. But on the other, I think, more than most people, I am extremely attached to (and a**l retentive about!) my name. Mostly this comes from a childhood peppered with adults saying to me, "(full name)? You don't want to be called (nickname)? Or (other nickname), like me/my daughter/my mother/whatever?" Sometimes people just flat-out assume that I use a nickname and hit the ground running, so to speak. It's a little silly, I suppose, but I find that deeply offensive. To me, it shows that you either weren't listening to me when I was introducing myself, or that you don't care enough to ask.

Plus, I got so much ribbing and so many bad jokes about my last name as a kid that you eventually wear it sort of like a badge. That, and pride. Both of my paternal grandparents were fresh off the boat immigrants, and I'm proud to have such an immediate connection to not-America. If I didn't have either of those experiences, perhaps I wouldn't be so touchy about it. =P

Funny...a few years ago, over dinner, my mom said to me, "You know, you aren't really a (nickname) or a (different nickname). You're very much a (full name), it suits you well." Pretty good, considering my parents got it from the answer to a Final Jeopardy question. =P

And yes, definitely a Shakespeare nod. I am an English major, after all. wink