My Old Name
A few days ago, Sarah and some of our friends were sitting down to a delicious brunch at Bistro 33, this slightly upscale chain that specializes in Pacific Northwestern cuisine. I think that basically means they serve salmon.
I got the two eggs any style and asked for one of the eggs to be fried and the other scrambled, since there was no stipulation that the "any style" had to be the same for both eggs. Oddly enough, I received two fried eggs... and then another fried egg for good measure. Their thought process was probably, "I know we're giving you a fried egg you didn't want, so to make up for it, here's another fried egg you didn't want."
Partway through the meal, a girl interrupted our friend James by calling out to him, "Jimmy? Oh my god, Jimmy!"
They had been best friends in undergrad, three years ago. In the intervening years he had gone to work and has gotten people to call him James. People don't call him Jimmy any more.
My sister changed her name from Jessica to Fayette when she was in high school. Even now my mom'll run into someone who she hasn't seen for decades who'll ask, "How's Jessica doing?" It's a weird feeling. It's like people asking if you want a ride in their horseless carriage or to listen to their new phonogram. The world's moved on and they hadn't noticed.
And then there's the other side of it, with people who knew you back when you had your old name. Back when you were Cassius Clay or the artist still known as Prince. It's a weird thing to have a friend wake up one morning and say "that's not my name anymore." There's a bit of audacity that goes along with it. In this culture, we don't often name ourselves. Other people give us our names.
My friend Owen tried to nick-name himself "Big Cran" after the juice he was drinking at the time. It didn't stick.
It takes a lot of authority to name something, since the naming itself is an act of definition. You're saying what something is. Naming all the animals was the first thing Adam busied himself with in the garden of Eden. Don't know what it means, but it must be kinda important. After brushing up on my Genesis, I found out it takes five verses to name all the rivers flowing into the garden but just one verse to create the heavens and the Earth. Again, don't know what it means, but names clearly mean something.
And if you've ever read the Tankakh/Old Testament/Good Book/Bible then you know that there's a whole lotta naming. If nothing else, names it has. Names for God, names before and after conversions, long lists of lineages... all those begats and begots... it pretty much just shows you that when you're dead, if you haven't done anything important, you'll just be a name. Time has boiled down your entire existence to one word, and that word was you.
With that in mind, I've found a random renamer on a baby name website, to see if the Internet can sum up my existence better than my parents tried to 24 years ago.
Your new name: Gusty Ginjiro Fox
Uh... I'll think about it.
I got the two eggs any style and asked for one of the eggs to be fried and the other scrambled, since there was no stipulation that the "any style" had to be the same for both eggs. Oddly enough, I received two fried eggs... and then another fried egg for good measure. Their thought process was probably, "I know we're giving you a fried egg you didn't want, so to make up for it, here's another fried egg you didn't want."
Partway through the meal, a girl interrupted our friend James by calling out to him, "Jimmy? Oh my god, Jimmy!"
They had been best friends in undergrad, three years ago. In the intervening years he had gone to work and has gotten people to call him James. People don't call him Jimmy any more.
My sister changed her name from Jessica to Fayette when she was in high school. Even now my mom'll run into someone who she hasn't seen for decades who'll ask, "How's Jessica doing?" It's a weird feeling. It's like people asking if you want a ride in their horseless carriage or to listen to their new phonogram. The world's moved on and they hadn't noticed.
And then there's the other side of it, with people who knew you back when you had your old name. Back when you were Cassius Clay or the artist still known as Prince. It's a weird thing to have a friend wake up one morning and say "that's not my name anymore." There's a bit of audacity that goes along with it. In this culture, we don't often name ourselves. Other people give us our names.
My friend Owen tried to nick-name himself "Big Cran" after the juice he was drinking at the time. It didn't stick.
It takes a lot of authority to name something, since the naming itself is an act of definition. You're saying what something is. Naming all the animals was the first thing Adam busied himself with in the garden of Eden. Don't know what it means, but it must be kinda important. After brushing up on my Genesis, I found out it takes five verses to name all the rivers flowing into the garden but just one verse to create the heavens and the Earth. Again, don't know what it means, but names clearly mean something.
And if you've ever read the Tankakh/Old Testament/Good Book/Bible then you know that there's a whole lotta naming. If nothing else, names it has. Names for God, names before and after conversions, long lists of lineages... all those begats and begots... it pretty much just shows you that when you're dead, if you haven't done anything important, you'll just be a name. Time has boiled down your entire existence to one word, and that word was you.
With that in mind, I've found a random renamer on a baby name website, to see if the Internet can sum up my existence better than my parents tried to 24 years ago.
Your new name: Gusty Ginjiro Fox
Uh... I'll think about it.
Comments
I do say, "sorry," but I still feel like a jerk.
Interesting coincidence with that random first name I was given, don't you think? It's like the computer tapped into my alter-ego all on its own. Scary!
Riiiight. BTW, I'll take that extra fried egg.
I am possessed of tremendous power.
I received the name when I was baptized in the winter of 2007. I found my spiritual school and I was drawn to grow in this way, on this path, and so I asked where I could begin...and that was with a process called retrospection, and then baptism to follow. Not everyone is given a new name, and not everyone takes it on, but I sure wanted to. It is given as an invitation to be someone new, to start again, and to me this meant that my spiritual life was beginning.
I just read this and thought I'd share it b/c it relates....
"A spiritual name reinforces and accelerates your progress on your path to your highest destiny. Making the choice to receive a spiritual name (and using it) is taking a rebirth in consciousness. It has positive benefits every time one says it, meditates on it, or hears it."
Sure I have received many comments and reactions from others. Especially people from HS who I really have no connection with other than FB (funny isn't it?!). My family and friends have been very understanding and accepting of it, and many use the name Gloria because they know it's my choice and has importance to me, and it doesn't have so much to do with them. Among weird comments i have heard, "You'll ALWAYS be Ceci." or "What's with this Gloria thing. Who do you think you are?" or others that will allude to the fact that I am delusional and brainwashed. In all honesty I think there would be far less objection if I were on an eastern path and I was given the name Chanti, Vajra, or Govinda. And if I had been concerned with what other's would think of me and changes I would make, I wouldn't have chosen a Christian path because of the fierce criticism and overall un-coolness of its reputation. But as it works out, this is the path that has lit up my heart and given me new life. So, Gloria is the dawn of a new day, and to me, Cecilia is a sad girl searching for her way.