My Name Is Everywhere
Ever meet someone with the same name and get that warm fuzzy feeling? That doesn’t happen to me. In fact, I have the opposite reaction: I get pissed.
See, it’s not just my first name…it’s my last name too! Both are common. A quick Google search turns up the CEO of a major clothing company, an orthodontist in Tucson, a big-time radio exec—even a director of gay pornography. Well I’m none of those things…thankfully. I’m me.
A name is supposed to be uniquely yours. It’s not something that should be shared with thousands of undeserving strangers.
Naming a kid is tricky business. I would imagine every parent is faced with the difficulty of finding something they can see themselves yelling for the rest of this life time. And when they finally figure it out, there are other hurdles to clear:
– You can rule out the name of almost everyone you have ever known or met. Anyone who has made some sort of impression on you (be it good or bad) has claimed ownership on moniker. Most people we meet leave an indelible impression on us. – To honor or not to honor. Different ‘rules’ apply to different religions, but many people are faced with the struggle of incorporating the names of loved ones into their child’s name. – There is a generational desperation to deviate from the norm, meaning that most people can relate with the fact that I hate my name doppelgangers. In order to combat that, people have chosen “new” names. But after a while, these names become the ‘Johns” of today. Yell the name “Jayden” in any city park and you’ll see 10 kids turn back.I guess there are some good points to having a common name. For instance, my ex-girlfriends probably get a kick out of thinking that I might be the gay director when they Google my name. It also means that when people finally do track me down, I know they’ve put some effort into it.
There are no winners in this name game. Just a bunch of us who are called the same thing. Sometimes I think about writing my name twins and asking them to make a change. Or perhaps getting us all together to see what we have in common. That means they probably hate me too!
What do you think?