What’s in a name?
Ever wonder if your personality or your appearance corresponded to your name? I mean, when we’re born, do our parents actually get to think hard how our names would affect us as we grow up? If you’re given a tough guy name, would you actually end up looking the part? If you’re given a nondescript, generic name, would you just blend in the crowd? If you’re named after famous folk, would you live up to your namesake’s reputation?
I know a few folks who really look their names. I recall a classmate, David, who looks kingly and regal (and sometimes is just as high-strung). A friend, Sophia looks wise and intelligent. Sometimes I wonder, does your name end up as making a self-fulfilled prophecy of you? Do you live up to that name? Or is it merely coincidence, for I also know of a handful of people who don’t exactly look or act like their names?
Or am I typecasting too much?
How about names of places? Or titles of books? Or titles of blogs and blog posts? Gurus tell you to always come up with a good headline. But what if the content does not live up to the reader’s expectations?
More about names—when you read an article or a blog post, what do you look at first? The title? Or is it the byline (or in the case of a blog post, the author)? Many times I find myself looking at the byline first. It’s probably the same as when you’re buying a book. The author matters. The name matters. The book’s title would sometimes be secondary to the authority or the prestige attached to the author’s name. Does the authorship matter more than the content?
Sometimes, it is.
And what about blogs? Does a blog’s author matter, or are you content with sapping up content, as long as it’s good? What if a blog changes its author or owner? Is it just a change of name, or will it be like a brain transplant, with the blog taking on a new personallity altogether? I think it’s more of the latter. It’s more than just the name attached. It’s the whole persona attached to the name.
And so, dear readers, in case you haven’t noticed, its’ me again. After a brief hiatus (of about two years or so), I’ve come back to haunt this blog once more. What does my byline say? I guess my writing style don’t exactly scream out like my name suggests. At least, not now.
What do you think?