Definition Essay: The Power Of Personal Identity
Everything that exists has a name attached to it. You are given your name at the start of life, and naming a baby is globally essential. It is used to claim property and sign checks. Your personal identity has a significant role in molding your future. People often examine the meaning of their names and the reasons they were named, but they seldom consider the significant impact the power of their name has had on their life.
I have felt resentment towards my name because people have difficulty pronouncing it. In school I waited wearily for the next mispronunciation. Imagine the chagrin I felt as teachers stopped trying to pronounce my first name in favor of my last. Imagine my indignance when they pronounced that wrong too! My parents’ fixation on recurring motifs led them to give my sisters and I all the same initials. I felt that I couldn’t separate my identity from that of my younger siblings. As children, we were perfectly content to share a room, clothes, and even friends. Eventually, I began to crave singularity. Hearing my mother and other adults talk about me as if I were an anomaly gave me the impression that I was smart. This is the image that I clung to. From elementary school onward, I was the smart one. Once I had a modifier that I liked, I was more comfortable with my name. For the first time I was what my name means. …show more content…
My middle name has a Greek origin and means “victory of the people”. With full awareness of these meanings, my parents clearly showed that they had high expectations for their firstborn child. Perhaps in choosing my name, my parents expected me to have the qualities that my names imply: strength and leadership. More likely, my parents chose my names because the combination of the uniqueness of my first name and the commonness of my middle name provided balance, along with alliteration. Whatever their intentions in naming me were, I feel some pressure to live up to the names that I was
I have felt resentment towards my name because people have difficulty pronouncing it. In school I waited wearily for the next mispronunciation. Imagine the chagrin I felt as teachers stopped trying to pronounce my first name in favor of my last. Imagine my indignance when they pronounced that wrong too! My parents’ fixation on recurring motifs led them to give my sisters and I all the same initials. I felt that I couldn’t separate my identity from that of my younger siblings. As children, we were perfectly content to share a room, clothes, and even friends. Eventually, I began to crave singularity. Hearing my mother and other adults talk about me as if I were an anomaly gave me the impression that I was smart. This is the image that I clung to. From elementary school onward, I was the smart one. Once I had a modifier that I liked, I was more comfortable with my name. For the first time I was what my name means. …show more content…
My middle name has a Greek origin and means “victory of the people”. With full awareness of these meanings, my parents clearly showed that they had high expectations for their firstborn child. Perhaps in choosing my name, my parents expected me to have the qualities that my names imply: strength and leadership. More likely, my parents chose my names because the combination of the uniqueness of my first name and the commonness of my middle name provided balance, along with alliteration. Whatever their intentions in naming me were, I feel some pressure to live up to the names that I was