Essay 3 Rough Draft

How Important Is A Name?

A name can mean many different things to each person. Where some may not see names as having an influence on a person’s life, others believe that names can shape a person’s identity and plans for the future. So how powerful are names? Bonnie Wach, author of “What’s In A Name?” believes in the power of names and that their influence on a person can take place in both positive and negative ways. Her essay focuses on the impact of names on people, especially unusual names; she believes that even though parents are struggling to find unique names, they should be thinking about the effects of that name on a child. In other words, names shape a person’s identity, so name-picking is crucial. Although the majority of her essay pertains to the negative effects of a unique name, Wach finds a positive side to picking different names, which includes “rediscovering – or simply inventing – their roots” and picking names that date back to their ancestry or heritage. It is a way to give a child a unique name with a deeper meaning. In this way, Tom Rosenberg, author of “Changing My Name after Sixty Years,” is an example of how names are important, especially when it is a reflection of your heritage. His choice to embrace his culture by changing his last name back to Rosenberg sixty years later is an example of Wach’s belief in the power names have over a person’s identity.

Wach believes that, in both minute and significant ways, a name can shape the lifestyle of a person. To paraphrase Wach, a person with an unusual name can affect everyday circumstances in their personal lives, social lives, and work. Think of the name “Jessica.” ”What comes to mind when this name is brought up? How would someone named Jessica be perceived and identified in society, and why do you think that is? Now think about “Apple,” a popular celebrity name. How would your inferences about the name Jessica be separate from the name Apple? Could their names possibly affect how they grow up in society? Wach believes that, in some cases, there is “a danger [that names] could become self-fulfilling prophecies.” A common name such as Jessica may not have the same affects on a child who is named Apple. A few examples she lists are of people whose names seemed to direct them into a particular line of work, such as “Bacon Chow the nutritionist, Lionel Tiger the animal behavior researcher, and Cardinal Sin the archbishop.” Some names are inseparable from a person’s identity, and while some names are in fact harmless, others evoke people to perceive them in their own way. For example, Wach cites a study by Albert Mehrabian in which “researchers asked teachers to grade identical essays. The ones signed by a ‘David’ or ‘Lisa’ consistently got better grades than those by an ‘Elmer’ or ‘Bertha.’” In this way a first name, in the least expected ways, can have an influence on how a person is seen in society. A last name can also have an impact on how people perceive you, in cases throughout history often leading to prejudice or painful experiences, such as the case with Tom Rosenberg. Wach’s research of names shaping identity connects to Tom Rosenberg’s choice to change his name. Looking over his sixty years of life, he wondered what it would be like had his parents kept their family name, rather than changing it to Ross when they moved to America. He says:

In the 50’s, I doubt Tom Rosenberg would have been accepted as a pledge by Theta Chi, a predominantly Christian fraternity at my college. He probably would have pledged a Jewish fraternity or had the self-confidence and conviction to ignore the Greek system altogether. (Eschholz, 622)

Rosenberg’s curiosity in how his life would have been different if he grew up with his family name shows the effects of a name on an identity. In his personal experience, Rosenberg did not have a choice to keep his real family name; when his parents fled to America from Nazi Germany, it was clear they wanted to change their name as a way to escape more discrimination and anti-Semitism, therefore deciding that a name like “Ross” would give Tom a better opportunity to live without discrimination. During this point in history, something as small yet so pertinent as a name could have subjected a person to discrimination, despite who s/he was as a person. Now, sixty years later, Rosenberg is drastically different from how he could have been, but he still wanted to acknowledge his Jewish heritage, and one step toward that was reclaiminghis surname. In cases like Rosenberg’s, names meant far more than what they mean today, essentially shaping his lifestyle and identity in society.

However, Wach sees going back to the roots of ancestry and culture as a way of choosing a name for a child that gives a deeper meaning and sense of who they are. In other cases, families “invent” their roots. She compares the differences between different families from various ethnic backgrounds, social and economic status:

Upper middle class Jewish couples have started looking to their ancestral heritage for
19th century names like Max or Hannah. Working-class African American parents fashion ethnic-sound names… and educated, upper-middle-class couples of various backgrounds have taken to bestowing gender neutral family names… (Eschholz, 606)

Instead of trying to assimilate to American culture, families are making decisions that are embracing their culture and staying away from the common names. Others, to avoid choosing common names, are creating their own or changing the meaning, particularly by picking gender-neutral names. In this way, Wach is describing how acceptance and understanding of other cultures is increasingly present when parents pick their children’s names, and as times change,so do the names and how people perceive them. In a similar way to how Wach describes, Rosenberg is also “choosing” to embrace his culture by changing his surname from Ross – the
Anglo name his parents chose when they first moved to America – back to Rosenberg, his Jewish family name. His parents voluntarily gave up their surname to escape prejudice, and Rosenberg is taking that piece of his identity back, connecting to Wach’s observation of couples finding, inventing or re-claiming their roots.

From Wach’s perspective, names can shape the way we are recognized and perceived in society. Rosenberg’s need to change his name after sixty years proves that names are very close to us because of the significant meaning they can have on our lives. A name can shape a lifestyle of a person, and if that is lost or forced to be changed, it can leave a feeling of loss in them. It is also important for new parents to wisely choose the name of their child, even when trying to be unique or unusual. A name sticks with you, and tells of “where we’ve been and where we’d like to go” (Eschholz, 603). Besides just new parents finding or inventing their roots, Rosenberg, a man who has lived most of life with an Anglo surname, decided that finding his roots was important to him too. Therefore, names are a significant part of our lives. After all, it is inseparable from who we are as living, breathing people.