The Importance of Names in One’s Identity
Just how important is a name?
We all know names are important. They’re what gives us our identities. They’re what we grab onto and hold close.
We give ourselves nicknames and pet names, to show affection and closeness. We associate some names with certain situations – the use of a full name when we’re being reprimanded, for example.
We use labels as names too, whether we do it positively or negatively.
It is human nature to want to know and understand things, to identify things, and for that we need names. Names for people and places and plants and animals, names for illnesses and diseases and disorders, names for careers and life choices.
Our lives are built around names — the words we attach to different things in order to give meaning to ourselves and the world.
As a writer, I spend weeks and sometimes months agonising over my characters’ names. They’re important, and I have to get them just right.
The importance of names particularly is apparent in my debut novel, Untamed. The main character goes by two different names – Seven is what her family named her, but when she’s kidnapped, her captors rename her Shania, and this is a name she is forced to use. Her captors’ reasoning for the name chase is that Seven is not a…
