A Post a Day in #8: What's in a name?

I have pledged to write a new post for this blog every day in May. 

All cats have three names: the one we give them, 

the one that’s a special name, 

and the one only the cat knows — 

“the deep and inscrutable singular name”.  

T.S. Eliot

All of our cats have at least three names, as Val likes to riff on the actual given name and come up with variations. Bountiful became Boo. Blanco became Blinkety. Lewis became Louis-Loo. Holly becomes Hollywood (“She’s a bit of a drama queen,” says Val). What Holly’s “deep and inscrutable singular name” is, we can but guess at. She is not telling.

Blanco "Blinkety", the white cat.
Photo by Nancy Clark

I know that Eliot is right about cats, but I have often wondered whether his naming wisdom applies also to humans. 

My given names are Amanda Julia — a lot of ‘As’ and, when added to my surname, a lot of letters to fit in the small space provided on a lot of forms. To my ear, both names are round and soft and, with the open sounds of all those As, they suggest an endlessness of sorts. Both can be readily pronounced in different languages, and both have lovely meanings: Amanda, from the Latin for lovable or worthy of love; and Julia, also from the Latin, for youthful. 

My first name has never been shortened to Mandy, and I have never had a nickname. The ‘Julia’ is never used by anyone; it’s just there to be an initial when required. My partner uses various endearments, but I’m not sure I have a special name in the way of Holly's Hollywood. And as for a “deep and inscrutable singular name” — I don’t know what that might be. Not yet, anyway. (I've lived for only six decades, after all.) 

I sometimes speculate what other name I might go by. Not that I can imagine actually changing my name, but if I were to to do so, I think that I would choose one that is short and finite. Like Kate, maybe. Or one with an interesting but not impossible spelling like Phoebe, maybe. And if I were to change my name, who might I then be? 

More pondering to do, clearly. 

How about you? What are your three names? Would you change your name? 

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