What is in a name?

Apr 28 / Stephen Farah
“A rose by any other name… “ is not a rose actually, it may look like a rose, smell like a rose, draw blood as a roughly grasped rose is want to do, but, you will grant, it simply cannot be a ‘rose’.
A passage (a footnote to be precise) from Jung’s essay on synchronicity[1] made quite an impression on me when I came across it a few years ago. It has to do with that very strange phenomenon, we encounter at times, where a person’s name bears an uncanny resemblance to their destiny or personality.
We find ourselves in something of a quandary when it comes to making up our minds about the phenomenon which Stekel [2]calls the “compulsion of a name”. What he means by this is the sometimes quite grotesque coincidence between a man’s name and his peculiarities or profession. For instance, Herr Gross (Mr Grand) suffers from delusions of grandeur. Herr Kleiner (Mr. Small) has an inferiority complex. The Altman [old man] sisters marry men twenty years older than themselves. […] Herr Freud (joy) champions the pleasure principle. Herr Adler (eagle) [champions] the will-to-power. Herr Jung (young), the idea of rebirth, and so on. Are these whimsicalities of chance, or the suggestive effects of the name, a Stekel seems to suggest or are they meaningful coincidences [as Jung is suggesting]?[3]
The more I reflected on this passage and the relationship of names to destinies, the more interesting the idea seemed. This post is an attempt to articulate some of my thoughts about our relationship with our names and the ideas that have occurred to me in this regard.
The influential act of naming or being named
I agree with Stekel[4] , on this count at least, that there is a persuasive power associated with your name, or with the name that I use to address you. This is part of the manipulative force of being given a secret name or simply a nickname. If, upon our meeting each other, I confer on you a ‘nickname’, this naming act exerts an influence on you. It could be a wholly different name, i.e. the conversion of Neil Franks into “Frankie knuckles”, Doctor Martin into ‘shoes’[5], or (to a lesser degree) simply by pronouncing your name in a specific way or addressing you formally: Sir, Madam, or Mister, or Missus. Whatever it is, any name change will have an influence on you and, in a sense, a power over you. This influence is not inherently positive or negative; it could be either, but it subtly alters your sense of self.
Your sense of identity is tied up with your name.
The significance of a name
  • The great 17th-century German polymath, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, held a very interesting view of names. To phrase it rather roughly, he held that an individual’s being, everything we can ever know about any particular person, everything they ever did and everything they ever will do converges in their name. A proper name, in other words, “picks out a complete concept”[6], in your case, that concept is you.
  • It is a long-held tradition that initiation into a new order brings with it a new name. We see Simon being renamed Peter upon becoming one of Christ’s disciples. This seems to have become something of a Christian custom. It is traditional for the Pope to takes on a new name on his appointment to the highest office in the Catholic Church; most recently, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francois.
  • In the Old Testament, after Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord, he was renamed Israel. Also, it is a significant feature of Judaism that G-d’s name is never spoken, and that to know His name is to be in possession of something both sacred and numinous.
  • In the Mormon faith, every “worthy” believer upon reaching maturity goes through the ‘endowment” ceremony. During this sacred (and highly secret) initiatory ceremony, the believer is given a new name[7]. This name has a tremendous significance in the Mormon faith, particularly on the day or resurrection when God will call the devout to Himself using their secret names. And, controversially, husbands will call their ‘faithful’ wives to them.
  • The act of assuming a new name or changing one's name to a “nickname” is very common, and with this name change, there is an accompanying sense of a change in identity.
  • There is in Africa a proud and long-held tradition of naming a child in accord with their perceived value: Precious, Gift, Blessing and so on.
  • Names and naming have a power; when we name someone, we grant them a certain identity. This can confer status, humiliation or simply a different sense of identity.
Your name as a symbol
There is clearly something to this phenomenon. The wide spread cross cultural presence of this ‘significance of the name’ can be interpreted from a Jungian perspective as an archetypal phenomenon[8]. And in so considering it, we can inquire as to what its phenomenology is. The most significant features seem to be:
  • Your name is associated with your destiny, everything you have ever done and everything you ever will do.
  • There is an essential relationship between you and your name[9].
  • Being initiated into a new order, a new way of life is frequently accompanied by a change of name, typically (but not only) with the bestowal of a name given by and associated with the new order, group, church, cult, etc.
  • A change in name can bring a change in destiny. So this idea is evident where, in certain traditions, after some bad luck has been suffered the person will change their name.
  • You are called by your name (called here in the sense of called to your higher purpose).
  • Your name confers a belonging. Your surname associated you with your family lineage; a new, conferred name associates you with the group that gave you the name.
  • In some profound sense, in other words, your name is an individuating force.
Your relationship with your name (amplifying its symbolic significance)
Considering the above, it is worthwhile reflecting on your relationship with your own name[10]:
  • Do you like your name?
  • How do you introduce yourself? Do you say your name with a sense of pride, purpose or as a mumbled apology?
  • What is the etymology of your name? Where does it come from? What does it mean?
  • Have you ever wished for, or called yourself by, a different name?
  • If you have ever toyed with renaming yourself, what is the significance of this alternate name, origin, and meaning, and how did you come by it?
  • What does your unique name stand for in the world: what is its mission or value statement; with what impulse in the world do you associate it?
My advice here would be if you don’t like what you find, to seriously consider how you might re-imagine or re-symbolise your name. In an important sense, what is being suggested here is that there is a significant link between your name and your destiny. Remember that the gift of post-modernity is the freedom to re-invent who you are (as un-Jungian as that may be).
Two other suggestions:
  • Do not allow yourself to be given a nickname or some alteration of your name that you do not wish to have. Consider carefully what the implications of your being re-named is. Also consider why that person is renaming you; are they trying to redefine who you are, and if so, what are they attempting to bring out?
  • Be aware of how you, in turn, address others, particularly if you are prone to use ”playful” name-changing habits. Become aware of what effect you have on others when addressing them in a particular way.
Alex-Stormbreaker-Zander
By way of illustration, let me share a story about my son Ruarc and his relationship with his name.
His name, of Gaelic origin, refers to (or means) a sea storm or champion. Ruarc, much like his name, has a stormy disposition. I remember well how one day at the tender age of five or six, he took on his mom in a head-to-head confrontation. Now you would have to know his mother to appreciate just how daunting that would be, even for an adult man. Nevertheless, pushed to his limit, he started shouting (screaming possibly) at her with a force way, way beyond his physical size. So passionate  and powerful was the tirade he dealt her that she had little choice but to back off, finally sitting back down onto her bed as he advanced on her, until they were standing so close to her that their foreheads touched, as he continued to tell her off! [11]
He became fascinated with a character in a movie called ‘Alex Stormbreaker’. One day, on an outing, he told me he wished to be renamed. His full name is Ruarc Alexander Farah. When I asked what he wished his new name to be, after some thought, he answered, “Ruarc Alex-Stormbreaker…Zander-Farah”! Well, I laughed until the tears streamed down my face. I know it was callous, but I simply couldn’t believe the way he had worked this name into his. For his part, furious at my laughter, he initially burst into tears and then shunned speaking to me for the entire drive home. He still has not entirely forgiven me.
It is interesting to consider that he chose this character, this name, Alex Stormbreaker (remember his own name means sea-storm or champion). He did not know this, and he still doesn’t; he is only seven at the time of writing.
Is this not an interesting choice of nom de plume?
At the moment, at school, he is generally called Ruarcie (or simply Rocky). It is as if his proper name, Ruarc (that is, Ruarc the Stormbreaker) is a second personality that is still too big for him to step into. He is just a little boy. But one day he will be a man, and then he will no longer be Ruarcie but will be (or could be if he steps into his power) Ruarc[12].
The name Ruarc, you could say, represents his potential, and at some level, he feels this, even at such a young age.
Finally, consider the future in your name. What is its destiny? To what and for what purpose are you called by virtue of your name? It is your name after all, something worth caring about, worth cultivating, and worth speaking into the world. It, like you, has an inalienable and very precious value; if you haven’t yet realised that, then now would be a good time to do so.
Until we speak again,
Stephen.

[1] ‘The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche’, Collected Works of C. G. Jung, vol. 8.
[2] Wilhelm Stekel (1868- 1940) Austrian physician and psychologist, one of Freud’s earliest followers.
[3] Ibid, p. 427, fn. 12.
[4] Which is not to deny the synchronicity Jung is obviously pointing to in this passage.
[5] i.e., Doc Martens (get it?); both of these are actual cases.
[6] The Cambridge Companion to Leibniz, p. 246.
[8] A universal, transpersonal pattern.
[9] To be honest, this is not completely clear to me, the Leibnizian idea of how a name picks out a particular. My name is Stephen Anthony Farah, but with the advent of the WWW (well, FB to come clean), it has come to my attention that I am not the only Stephen Farah. I have not found another Stephen Anthony Farah yet…still it is fairly obvious that many people have the exact same name. So the question then is what is the implication then for this naming essentialism when names are duplicated?
[10] First and last name, both are significant.
[11] Once he finally stopped, of course, and left the room, my wife and I laughed until we cried, whether from pure mirth at this vision of him we had witnessed or whether from relief that it was over, I cannot say.
[12] And may God grant that this comes to pass.