One word, say it and you get attention. Everyday people say to me, my first name, Elliot. Say it to talk, ask, help, speak. Simple, effective communication. Use it, wear it out, it’s there for a reason. You don’t even have to think about it. Names are made to be used.
People make connections with names. They can shape who they are, what they do, what they feel about themselves. They take control of them. Creates peoples destiny.
Not me. My name was given to me like someone gives a label to a box, just not as descriptive. Middle name formed in a hospital located in a middle class white neighborhood from four different letters in the english alphabet, D, E, W, and, I. Letters assigned to me by chance, not by any meaning. No destiny in front of me, no history behind me. Truly free.
People say my last name, Hernandez, to me when they want to sound professional. They do it to make an impression to others. It’s the only purpose it serves. In the past I had thought that I should be proud of it, since it has been passed through generations of my family. However my family is not special, we’ve lived and died doing what we wanted. Living for the fuck of it.
My name is unimportant to me if you haven’t caught on. I could have been named anything, George, Bob, Jose, Cole, Tyrone. Like everyone else my name has been picked on, that’s normal, whatever. This, just like my name, has no bearing on who I am. Who I am is someone lives life like a kid in a sandbox — creation, destruction, excitement, lament. No name could show me to someone just by being mine.
Do I need to connect to my name? Well then my name has a secret meaning. It means freedom, or the struggle for it. No roots to hold me down from flying and doing my own thing. My freedom comes from the lack of connection I have to my name. However convoluted, my disconnection to my name creates my connection to my name.
Dear Elliot,
This piece writing is very well written and pretty good. I like how you write in a comedic way and mixing it with a deep, sort of way, involving your name.
Elliot,
I really enjoyed reading this, and I feel it was well written. I have had an opposite experience from you, I have grown up in a family where everyones name is different, and spelled “incorrectly”, and have had some weird experiences from this. My name is Caleigh pronounced Callie and I found a sense of identity from my name, and I wonder what it would be like to experience what you have gone through with your name. I think you bring up a good point, about how your name is supposed to be used, and how you feel connected to your name by being “disconnected” I found this article about what your name means and how you can create a personal identity, and thought you would enjoy it.
https://www.behindthename.com/articles/3
Thanks for sharing,
Caleigh
Hello Elliot,
I found your post very interesting. I used to hate my name because it’s so different, but as I’ve grown up, I’ve grown into liking my name as well. When someone pronounces or spells it wrong, I tell them, because that’s my name. The source of my embarrassment turned into the source of my pride. My name is unique and it’s mine. I found this article on names I thought you might find interesting. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/09/19/the-importance-of-a-name/?utm_term=.0e8705ffa31a
Thank you for sharing this post.
Cicely
Elliot,
I enjoyed reading this as it was written well. I know a lot of cultures have the naming of a child to be a big deal. It has history and a deep meaning connected to it, sometimes it seems like that people have forgotten names used to have reasons behind them besides just sounding nice. I found an article on names and the meaning behind them and I think itll be an interesting read. https://www.behindthename.com/
Dear Elliot,
I really enjoyed reading your piece of writing, it was really well written. You also used really good vocabulary and used good transitions. Your writing was smooth to read along and I connected to most of the things that wrote. I feel like your memoir is unique and different, which is really good because you don’t see that often.
hella good