What is in a name?
Well, for starters there should be a lot more in it than two N’s and an A.
I’ve always hated my middle name, if you can even call it a name. Ann is nothing more than filler for when you’re too worn out from childbirth to bother giving your child a real middle name. If my parents had a reason behind the name, I might not mind it quite as much (ie, if they’d had a favorite aunt named Ann or something), but no… it was just filler.
So, in my book, I have no middle name. If it was just weird or dorky or impossible to pronounce, I wouldn’t even think of changing it, because it’d be my name, good or bad. But, since I basically have no middle name, I would like to give myself one.
You see, when I was married I kept my maiden name as my middle name, and then took on my husband’s name as my last name. So, I got quite used to having a middle name. It looked good on the business cards, filled out the center space, and was a name that was both personal to me and served as a tie to my family. Now, since I’m divorced, I’m suddenly deprived of a middle name again.
About a year ago, I started thinking of having my middle name legally changed to a real name. Thinking of a name isn’t that hard. After all, it’s just a name. It doesn’t need to (nor could it possibly) define me as a person. It just needs to be a name. The hard part is this… how do you give yourself a name without it being totally cheesy? I mean, come on… it’s like the kid in Jr high who wanted a nick name so he just decides one day “From now on, I’m no longer Douglas… I’m The Dougger” or “Flash”, or “Slick”… you get the idea. It’s just lame.
But I’m not really changing my name. I’ll still be Kat. All I want to do is give myself a middle name because I don’t really have one. Is that so bad? Ok… well, what if that name is a Japanese name? I’m not Japanese. I don’t speak Japanese. I’ve never been to Japan, but it doesn’t seem that weird to me. After all, ALL of our names originated somewhere, and very few of them started in America (unless your name is Shushani tutanka obwachi or something). Kathleen is originally Greek, I think, and I’m not the slightest bit Greek. I’ve set foot in 5 countries in my life, and none of them are where my last name came from, either. So, who says I can’t pick a name from any country?
Anyway, so I’ve been thinking about making my middle name Moriko. No, I won’t expect to have my business cards say “Kat 森子 (last name)”. No fancy Kanji. Just Moriko. Or maybe just M. Kat M. (last name). I don’t need to show off my middle name. I’d just like to have one. Is that so very strange? I don’t think so, but then I analyze based on reasons, not common practice. I dunno. After a year of thinking I probably wouldn’t, I’m starting to think I will. Surely it can’t cost all that much, to have a name legally changed.
*sigh* it would be much simpler had I just been born with a decent middle name. My sister got a middle name. My mother was not a boring nor stupid person. Surely she was capable of coming up with two whole names for me. You'd think she might have even come up with something relatively interesting. Heck, naming me after her favorite pop song would have been better than nothing. But hey... everyone is different. Maybe two names sounded like too much to her. Maybe she was taking a minimalist approach. Whatever the reasons, I want a real name. It is, after all, my name anyway. I should have some say.
I’ve always hated my middle name, if you can even call it a name. Ann is nothing more than filler for when you’re too worn out from childbirth to bother giving your child a real middle name. If my parents had a reason behind the name, I might not mind it quite as much (ie, if they’d had a favorite aunt named Ann or something), but no… it was just filler.
So, in my book, I have no middle name. If it was just weird or dorky or impossible to pronounce, I wouldn’t even think of changing it, because it’d be my name, good or bad. But, since I basically have no middle name, I would like to give myself one.
You see, when I was married I kept my maiden name as my middle name, and then took on my husband’s name as my last name. So, I got quite used to having a middle name. It looked good on the business cards, filled out the center space, and was a name that was both personal to me and served as a tie to my family. Now, since I’m divorced, I’m suddenly deprived of a middle name again.
About a year ago, I started thinking of having my middle name legally changed to a real name. Thinking of a name isn’t that hard. After all, it’s just a name. It doesn’t need to (nor could it possibly) define me as a person. It just needs to be a name. The hard part is this… how do you give yourself a name without it being totally cheesy? I mean, come on… it’s like the kid in Jr high who wanted a nick name so he just decides one day “From now on, I’m no longer Douglas… I’m The Dougger” or “Flash”, or “Slick”… you get the idea. It’s just lame.
But I’m not really changing my name. I’ll still be Kat. All I want to do is give myself a middle name because I don’t really have one. Is that so bad? Ok… well, what if that name is a Japanese name? I’m not Japanese. I don’t speak Japanese. I’ve never been to Japan, but it doesn’t seem that weird to me. After all, ALL of our names originated somewhere, and very few of them started in America (unless your name is Shushani tutanka obwachi or something). Kathleen is originally Greek, I think, and I’m not the slightest bit Greek. I’ve set foot in 5 countries in my life, and none of them are where my last name came from, either. So, who says I can’t pick a name from any country?
Anyway, so I’ve been thinking about making my middle name Moriko. No, I won’t expect to have my business cards say “Kat 森子 (last name)”. No fancy Kanji. Just Moriko. Or maybe just M. Kat M. (last name). I don’t need to show off my middle name. I’d just like to have one. Is that so very strange? I don’t think so, but then I analyze based on reasons, not common practice. I dunno. After a year of thinking I probably wouldn’t, I’m starting to think I will. Surely it can’t cost all that much, to have a name legally changed.
*sigh* it would be much simpler had I just been born with a decent middle name. My sister got a middle name. My mother was not a boring nor stupid person. Surely she was capable of coming up with two whole names for me. You'd think she might have even come up with something relatively interesting. Heck, naming me after her favorite pop song would have been better than nothing. But hey... everyone is different. Maybe two names sounded like too much to her. Maybe she was taking a minimalist approach. Whatever the reasons, I want a real name. It is, after all, my name anyway. I should have some say.
posted by TwistedNoggin at 11:22 AM
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