Names Are More Than Labels

Names are more than labels.  In some societies and cultures to know someones name means to be able to control that individual so names are closely guarded.  In others names are given to hide or disguise the child in order to protect them from a jealous god. 

Not so in most of our society. .Often the parents who named us as children spent many hours before our birth picking out our names.  They may have looked up the meanings of names.  No doubt they considered how a given name sounded with the family name. In some families an old family name is passed on from generation to generation.  If you are lucky it's a well-loved name.  Sometimes a son ends up with his mother's maiden family name as his middle name which is then passed on.  Not infrequently that results in some odd middle names. e.g. Dingledorfer.

Then there are the times when the parents so want a boy and got a girl that the girl gets a feminized version of a boys name.   A quick look at a list of class names over a period of years will reveal that names go through cycles of popularity. There were four Nancy's in my sisters class all though elementary and high school.   Names may be picked from the Bible, movie stars, famous people, etc. 

Nicknames become attached to some people and become better known than the names given to them by their parents.  Some are closely related to the original such as Rob for Robert and Liz or Beth for Elizabeth.  Others have interesting stories of origination.

What's in a name that makes it more than a label? My husband used to say that a person's name was his most precious possession. Our names give each of us our unique identity

 In today's world where many entities assign us numbers as identities our names often seem to get lost. You may call for information from your bank, credit card company, health insurance, or Medicare and they don't ask for your name. Instead, they wll ask for your account number, your telephone number, your zip code and in some instances you may even have to give a password. By the time you get to that, if you are like me, you have to refer to your password reference list lest you give the wrong password and they hang up on you as an imposter!

Fortunately for those of us who live here at Kendal at Granville our staff recognizes that each of us are unique individuals. One important way they show this is by learning our names and then calling us by name whenever they come in contact with us.  I am constantly surprised and delighted to note how quickly new employees learn the names of all of our residents.  One place this is particularly evident is in the dining room.  As we go through the line to get our hot food or as they see someone in need of help each of them calls us by name.  It is a life affirming experience to be so recognized daily by our staff.  It tells us that we matter to them.  We may have numbers on our charts and in the accounting office, but all of the staff including the Finance Manager and the Billing Manager call us by name not by number.