After class today I was very curious about the idea of names and how, in our culture especially, it is normal to find a boy with the same name as his father, grandfather… but it is not normal to find a girl with the same name as her mother. Instead, girls may be named after a relative or is given part of the mother’s name but it is never exact. After some unhelpful internet searching the only thing I got was Junioretta or Juniorita. I was not happy with this but decided the lack of information is because maybe women do not want to name their daughters after themselves and this would only be practical if men started taking the names of their wives.
Another thought I was having and one that took me a little further than junioretta...
I was very interested in the concept of names after our MORELLA discussion in class today. I was surfing the web when I came upon an interesting take. I found this information on wikipedia but confirmed it with several other websites as well (this doesn’t make it soo bad).
Ren (name): As a part of the soul, a person's name (ren in Egyptian) was given to them at birth and the Egyptians believed that it would live for as long as that name was spoken, which explains why efforts were made to protect it and the practice of placing it in numerous writings. For example, part of the Book of Breathings, a derivative of the Book of the Dead, was a means to ensure the survival of the name. A cartouche (magical rope) often was used to surround the name and protect it. Conversely, the names of deceased enemies of the state, such as Akhenaten, were hacked out of monuments in a form of damnatio memoriae. Sometimes, however, they were removed in order to make room for the economical insertion of the name of a successor, without having to build another monument. The greater the number of places a name was used, the grater the possibility it would survive to be read and spoken.
Another definition I found for REN is this:
Ren - The true name, a vital part to man on his journey through life and the afterlife, a magical part that could destroy a man if his name was obliterated or could give power of the man if someone knew his Ren - naming ceremonies in Egypt were secret, and a child lived his whole life with a nickname to avoid anyone from learning his true name!
This all fascinated me and I wanted to share it with you guys. It also seemed to go along with the thought that Morella soul went into baby Morella once the father spoke the name. This story was a very interesting way for Poe to show the power behind names.
Also, going back to naming your kids after yourself or spouse...
What do you guys think of this? Does it take away from who you are? Or does it prematurely place a personality on you? Dr. Harrison??? Do you feel that at any moment you could turn into your father or grandfather?? lol. This story gives me a different look on this topic even though I'm not sure what to take from it.
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4 comments:
I think when the son is named after the father, there is a sense of pride and an assumption that the son is going to have the positive characteristics of the father. With daughters, it is different. A lot of women have those moments as they grow up, when they say or do something, and think "oh no, I'm turning into my mother." It's not a negative reaction all the time, but sometimes it is. I don't think guys have this experience as much, in relation to their fathers.
In "Morella," Poe is taking this idea to the extreme. It seems like the narrator notices the similarities between his daughter Morella, and her mother even before he gives her a name. On page 237 he says: "And, hourly, grew darker these shadows of similitude, and more full, and more definite, and more perplexing, and more hideously terrible in their aspect." While he does love his child, I don't think he can get past the fact that she is turning into her mother. Naming her Morella just "seals the deal" for the narrator.
I think it's possible that the transformation would've happened regardless of the daughter's name--giving her the name Morella just solidified what the narrator already knew, that she had turned into her mother.
As I thought about our discussion from today’s class concerning naming, I don’t believe that you actually become the person for whom you are named, as in Morella. Morella the daughter was killed by her father for being the image of her mother. He truly believed that she had become the embodiment of what he despised most. He had ten years to think of a name and yet he was unable to give the child one other than Morella. However I do believe that if a child is named for someone and they are constantly being compared to that person and their characteristics, then eventually the child may by the repetition of hearing these comparisons manifest the same.
I am not sure if other people have this, my family is pretty “different” from most. However I have decided to share the naming ritual and ceremony of my family. Unlike the narrator, we do not wait ten years before giving a name; however, our children do come home from the hospital without names until the naming ceremony. The first born son is named after the father. We have several thirds, and fourths. The importance of the name is on the first name and not the last. Once a child is born, male or female, the child is told their first name by the oldest female relative first, and then the mother repeats the first name, followed by the father who gives the child their full name. The child’s name is then announced to the family and the meaning or an explanation of who the child is named for is given. The mother’s name is not perpetuated. However don’t view this as sexist, because the tradition comes from my great-great-grandmother and the men who marry into the family agree to follow this tradition. The naming ceremony is held when the child is three days old. Just thought I’d share.
Russian people use their fathers name always, the child is always given the first name of his/her father as his/her middle name. I was born in Illinois, and my parents did not give me this patronymic, or my little brother who was born in VA.
My father's name is David, so my brother would be Robert Davidov Arans and I would be Patricia Davidavna Arans (meaning Robert David's Arans and Patricia David's Arans).
And fyi Arans is my family's American version of Aronovsky.
My name is Patricia Rose Arans, Rose was some great aunt on my Mama's side.
Besides: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet".
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
They say naming something is putting meaning into it, what I mean by that is: you don't name the cow you are about to slaughter. You don't name the baby you are about to put up for adoption. If it has a name, you have emotional attachment to it.
One of my true stories:
I know some guys who bought a chicken and named is Bryan Jr., then Bryan snapped it's neck and they cooked it and ate the whole thing. (This took place in an alley on Grace street. The chicken came from Louisa County).
I propose that we start waiting until our children are 10 years old and then let them name themselves, until then we should number them.
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