On the Power of a Proper Noun

When my mother was hunting for boys on the marriage mart for me, she sent me a host of ‘bio datas’. I had a system for sorting them. It began with the name. After this first filter, there were other, more nuanced ones, I promise,?but I believe names like any other word carry their own electricity. I could not possibly marry a Gopal. I met a Pushkar but it was doomed from the start. There were some He-who-must-not-be-named’s.

Fantasy writers know about the power of names. Ursula K Le Guin says,

“Words do have power. Names have power. Words are events, they do things, change things. They transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it.”

Usually, I begin by loving an idea and doodling possible names for it. Usually, I scribble it in a notebook like a teenage crush. Something to be hidden. Because it needs to be perfect. I need to have all the answers. To name something I have know every piece of it.?

But we name our babies and sit back as they keep evolving.

So this year I’ve named a lot of things. Things I was scared of owning, ideas I felt overwhelmed by, initiatives I was still fiddling with, ventures that seemed grandiose, feelings that were difficult. (I snuck that last one in there.)

I’ve given birth to a lot of things by the naming of them. I’ve moved forward with a lot of things by naming them. I claimed my ideas in introductions, to possible audiences, but more - to myself.?

A nudge to myself to believe. It exists. It’s real. Breathe.

“If you share your true name with another, it implies great trust, a sharing of your true self. And a knowing of your true self.”?

What would you name this year?

P.s: I write these posts under ‘ALT/ A Light Tangent’

#alighttangent #alt/alighttangent #identity #branding #reflection