"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would be just as sweet."

Ah yes, names. Somehow my musings of late has drifted to the one thing that somehow seems both incredibly important and incredibly meaningless at the same time. How many fantasy novels have I read where magic works off of knowing the true names of things. How many other tales are there in which the mysterious wanderer has know singular name but rather a selection of nicknames the fearful locals have given him?

What really intrigues me about names is the attachments people form to them. Upon birth, everybody is given a name. This is obvious, but why is it people get so attached to their names? Well, the technical answer, I suppose, is that its easier to give everyone their individual name so as to more easily differentiate and identify people. That in it of itself is probably how the whole naming business came around. One day a cave man just called his buddy 'Ug' and from that day forward every time he wanted to get 'Ug's' attention he just shouted out 'Ug!'

I do think it goes beyond that, though. Consider the world at large. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, is certain in this world beyond the laws of physics and death. And maybe taxes. Other than those, everything is subject to change. People die, cities are moved, personalities age and change, business's shut down, and even entire civilizations die out. Namely, the really big change is the simple act of growing up. It kind of sucks at times.

So I would say that people get so attached to names because, well, its one of the few things they can maintain. A name sticks with one as long as one desires, and it provides stability. It cannot change unless you want it to, because quite frankly, names don't exist to be changed. So people turn titles into anchors of stability, and people are satisfied by this.

You're given a name, you grow up with a name, and you die with a name. Nothing is forcing you to keep a name, but it gives the illusion of stasis. And that, coupled with convenience that names provide, is why they still exist. That's what's in a name. Sure, the rose could be called a snufflelufflegus, but then it would have changed, and it would have subjected people to that much more entropy, so it would never stick. Sooner or later, people would go back to calling it a rose, and stability would return.

Then you consider all of the different languages both dead and currently alive, and then I realize I don't exactly want to drag on a blog post for a page or two. But I digress.

That's what I have to say on the subject of names