I am halfway reading through Jefferey Archer’s “Kane and Abel” and I just finished reading the part where George Novak proudly tells Wladek that when he goes to America, he is planning to change his name to make it sound more “english sounding” versus his current polish name (Jerzy Novak). It just got me thinking how easily people can just change their names. I have had friends (chinese ones) who could easily change their names and could pick their own english name to suit their whims.
Ever since I was young, I could never understand why my name (my real one) was so long. It’s not that it bothered me anyway, but I often would wonder how could I make my name shorter so that people could remember me better? My attempts to make my name shorter didn’t happen anyway. In school, I would introduce myself normally, without trying to “style-up” my name or tell people “my name is so-and-so, but just call me <a-much-shorter-name or a nickname> would be fine!”
It never did occur to me that I should even bother to make my name shorter or more easier for others to remember. To me, I always felt, if a friend wants to remember me, he or she would make an effort to remember my name. If he/she can’t remember my name, or at least try to make an effort to learn how to say my name properly, then I don’t think he/she is serious in being a friend to me. If people found it difficult to pronounce my name, I would obligingly teach them, as to me I was always taken up by people who always took the effort to learn how to say my name. As for the rest, well I just didn’t bother!
This cardinal rule of mine worked well in university (which explains the number of “close buddies” I had anyway), but when I reached workinghood, it sorta changed. I didn’t still feel the need to shorten my name so that people would remember me better, however this time around I DID feel the need for people to remember me. Not so much because I wanted them, but simply because I know that it would help in building better relationships with them. If a name is too much to remember, people (especially career folks) would have a higher tendency to forget you. And when they have a tendency to forget you, well that’s not really good anymore.
Of course, if you rationally think about it who cares what your name is as long as
- Your name is not a bad-sounding word
- You are friendly and are nice to people
- You are good at what you do
However sometimes I feel it doesn’t hurt to have a cool sounding name 🙂 But oh well, I guess at the end of the day, a name is just a name, but how you live up to that name (or your name) is far more challenging and more in your control versus changing your name.
