“There is power in a name. It is through names that we bring all things into this world, and when they leave, it is names we carry with us, so they are never truly gone.”—Justin Cronin
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The story you are about to read was adapted from an anecdote in Reader’s Digest. It is so amusing that I find myself laughing heartily – even when I am alone in my room perusing the anecdote. Now, please continue reading…
A teacher, a petty thief, and a lawyer all met their demise and arrived at the Pearly Gates. Due to the high volume of souls, St. Peter informed them that they needed to pass a test prior to entry.
He addressed the teacher first, asking, “What was the name of the renowned ship that struck an iceberg and sank?” The teacher – who had seen the Hollywood movie – replied, “The Titanic!” and St. Peter gestured for her to enter heaven.
Next was the thief. “How many individuals perished on that ship?” St. Peter inquired. “Wow, that’s a tough one,” the thief responded, “but fortunately, I also watched the award-winning film just before I died. The answer is 1,500.” He was correct, and St. Peter allowed him to pass.
Then, St. Peter turned to the lawyer. “What were their names of those who died?” he asked.
“What’s in a name?” asked William Shakespeare, the father of English literature. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Giving a child a name is very important. This is the reason why parents usually ask their loved ones, relatives, and friends to suggest names for their child. John Keats, in a letter to his sister-in-law, wrote: “If you should have a boy do not christen him John, and persuade George not to let his partiality for me come across. It is a bad name, and goes against a Man. If my name had been Edmund I should have been more fortunate.”
Novelist James Joyce penned: “I shall write a book someday about the appropriateness of names. Geoffrey Chaucer has a ribald ring, as is proper and correct, and Alexander Pope was inevitably Alexander Pope. Colley Cibber was a silly little man without much elegance and Shelley was very Percy and very Bysshe.”
“I sometimes think I was born to live up to my name,” American composer and singer Madonna was once quoted as saying. “How could I be anything else but what I am, having been named Madonna? I would either have ended up a nun or this.”
Names are very important. A graduating student from a city came to a rural high school to do his teaching practice. Within two weeks, he knew the first name of every student in his class. He called them all: Peter and Agnes and John and Sarah, just like a real friend would.
After two months, the graduating student had to go back to his university and it was two years later before he came back to the rural high school. Immediately, all his former students – now soon to graduate – gathered around and wanted to know if he still remembered their names. So, he pointed out each of them and correctly named them. They were overjoyed; he had not forgotten them – all except one whose name he could not recall. In shame, the student ran off crying. He was embarrassed.
“Names, once they are in common use, quickly become mere sounds, their etymology being buried, like so many of the earth’s marvels, beneath the dust of habit,” observed British author Salman Rushdie. Henry David Thoreau added, “A name pronounced is the recognition of the individual to whom it belongs. He who can pronounce my name right, he can call me, and is entitled to my love and service.”
If a picture paints a thousand words, a name alone is worth more than a battalion. When George Washington agreed to act as commander-in-chief, some felt that the strength of the American forces had been more than doubled.
Years later, in 1798, when Washington retired to Mount Vernon, and it seemed that France might declare war against the United States, President John Adams wrote to the former general saying, “We must have your name, if you will permit us to use it; there will be more efficacy in it than in many an army.”
“In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be,” said Hubert H. Humphrey. “Names are not always what they seem,” said American writer and humorist Mark Twain (his real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens). “The common Welsh name Bzjxxllwcp is pronounced Jackson.”
Finally, here’s another story – as related by a student – why you have to remember names of people you meet along the way:
During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?”
Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.
“Absolutely,” said the professor. “In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say ‘hello.’”
How true, indeed, is the Chinese proverb, “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.”
As American president Abraham Lincoln explained, “How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. (But) calling a tail a leg (still) doesn’t make it a leg.”
Again, what’s in a name?
