Thoughts currently in my mind: The Power of a Name

Oh look, I took this picture. Mysterious pathways, yay! This picture has nothing to do with the blog post.

I've been thinking of late, it seems to be so rare that we actually use our names in daily conversation, whether through text, chatter in the halls, or email/IM. When I talk to my friends we don't often address one another by saying "Hi _______." We mostly go with "Hello!"

We are assigned names to help us form our identities, and without them what are we but blank slates?

I mean, it's not like I'm never addressed as "Emily", but it seems as though the concept of using names in conversation is slowly dying out. I'm a contributor to this, I don't deny it. Occasionally I will address my friends by their name, but usually I fall into the category of just saying "Hey", or poking them to get their attention.

I like the way my name sounds, and I like the way my friends' names sound. Some of them seem so exotic and beautiful, and I love the feeling of their names on my tongue, but I choose to not use their names.

Names are important in order to keep us human. Without them we could run the risk of being reduced to numbers, symbols, or even nothingness.

Names are the core of who we are. I feel like I would be a very different person if I were named something like Mary, Catherine, Elizabeth, or Anya. I would still have my basic personality, but with a different name I might feel differently about myself.