5.22.2009

What's in a name?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet

Shakespeare has Juliet say, lamenting the fact that Romeo is a Montague. A few moments later he will let her know he's there, and the name will be of even less importance to them. For a little while, in the middle of the night, they will be two people, and that is all. Neither Capulet nor Montague, just two young people in love. The play is a tragedy, yet she's so right.

A name does not define a person. Somebody today was being really, truly nervous about the fact that Someone had said the name of the Syrian President Assad could be translated as Beast. This, claimed Somebody, is a warning.

Dear Somebody, it's just a name.

To offer some balance I can tell you that my given name, not the one I've given myself but the one my parents quite optimistically gave me many years ago, translates as Angel. See how little a name tells you about a person?

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