what is the meaning of your name essay

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What’s the Story Behind Your Name?

Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.

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An article today about a man who did not officially have a first name until he was 19 asks the question, “What’s in a name?” Do you like your name? How did you get it? How has it shaped you? If, like this man, you had to officially name yourself now, would you keep the name you’ve had all your life, or take another? Why?

Erik Eckholm writes about cartoonist Max Pauson and how life without a name shaped him:

…this promising art student’s strong sense of self was hard-earned. It was forged in an unstable, emotionally wrenching childhood and, in an odd detail that might serve as a metaphor for his struggles, it comes after 19 years of life without a legal name. His birth certificate read only “(baby boy) Pauson.” Name to come. His father had disappeared. His mother — in his words, “a pack rat who takes a really long time to decide on anything” — did not pick a first name at the hospital in San Francisco in 1990. And she never followed up, leaving him in a rare and strange limbo. While Mr. Pauson was long aware of the blank spot in his identity, he never quite had the time or means to correct it. He lived with his mother in a house that sometimes lacked electricity. He spent time in foster care and returned to live with his mother in homeless shelters and in public housing. Finally, at 15, he ran away to live with friends’ families. In an era when identities and backgrounds are scrutinized more than ever, he still managed to get into schools, though he never tried to obtain a driver’s license.

Students: Tell us how you got your name, how it defines you, and whether or not you would keep it if you could rename yourself now.

Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.

Teachers: Here are ten ways to teach with this feature.

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i would keep mine i would never change mini

Kelly Fortunato is a name that I have answered to multiple times. It has appeared on bills, on my college transcripts, and has been called out loud at the DMV. Unbeknownst to me, it has changed my gender countless times, and prompted me to explain myself on several occasions. People are suprised when I actually introduce my self as Fortunato Kelly. I know that it sounds like the pen name of a 18th century ex-pat, hints at luck, or even passes as regal, but it’s entirely mine, and of varied construction. The latin roots shine through, but I’m blessed to be named after my mother’s father, who was of Filipino, Chinese, and Malay blood. The Kelly roots come from my father, who lools like his Irish, German, and Portuguee roots suggest he should. In analyzing my personal genealogy, I find myself compelled to get others to seek comfort in their individual histories, know where they come from, and live up to the standards set by our lineage in the American experience. In these capricious times, one constant is the safety and security of knowing yourself, and being comfortable with it. Cheers for reading, Fortunato Kelly

So, if he didnt have a name until he was 19, what was the name that people were calling him up until then? was it hey you? or wat? im just wondering because how would people get his attention if he had no name.

If I had to pick out a name for myself, I would have to choose from five names: 1) Isabella 2)Stella 3)Aila 4)Katherine 5)Theresa I would choose one of these names because they are pretty and just roll out of the mouth, much better than mine.

i was named after the arabic word for perfect but people are constantly mispronouncing it. if i cud change my name, id change it to Zoey

I love my name. It’s really pretty, and it has a nice ring. It’s plain, but I’m not plain, so I kind of like that. And I have neat nicknames, like Em, Emmie, Ems and a whole bunch other! Emily.

I got my name from brian because my mom and dad wanted a boy but when i came out they hurry and put an A at the end to make briana. A lot of people have my name and i have always wanted to have a rare name but i dont think i would change it. even if i wanted to i wouldnt know what to change it to.

I like the names GIRLS: 1. Abigail 2. Hannah Marie 3. Bri Ann BOYS: 1. Johnny 2. andrew 3. Dom

I have liked the girls names from when I was 3 and i still do. I like abigail because i use to be a saftey when i was in 5th grade at my school and one of the girls name was abigain and i fell in love with the name.

I like the name johnny because that is my boyfriends name, i like andrew because it is my boy friends brothers name and i just think dom is a cool name

I officially have 2 names. one is Kathleen and one is Hak Young. Hak Young is the name that my parents gave me and Kathleen is just my english name. I love my english name but sometimes i don’t like my korean name. It kinda sounds like boy’s name in korea, and i do want to change my name to something else but that would be too complicated. Thus, i chose not to change my name after all.

I’m a Rebecca after my grandmother Rebecca and straight from the torah, Rebecca. My name connects me to my family, to my history, to my faith, to myself. I’ve always loved being named after my grandmother; loved not being a Becky or a Becca; loved what my name means to me.

My name, Meris, comes from a classmate of my Mom, at the University of Rhode Island, who had a daughter, Meris. I love it, and I couldn’t do so well, as to give myself this name! I would keep; it for sure.

The story behind my name is actually quit funny. I was suppose to be named Alexandra Sarah S[.] untill my dad realized my initiales were gonna be A.S.S. Alexandra was my great grandmothers first name and my mom wanted me to be named after her but she also liked the name Sarah. So now im Sarah Alexandra S[.]

My name is very common in the way it is originally spelled Christine. But my mother decided to be unique and spell my name Kristine. Plenty of times i have had to correct people because they may spell it incorrectly, and i have always been happy with my name because it is just a part of me. When researching my name i had found that it is of Scandinavian descent and basically means christian which is what i am. I am proud of my name and i would never want to change it because it is what my mother named me and it has become me too.

Your name is the one part of your life that society cannot strip away. Even the most destitute people, those living on the streets, do have one thing to cherish– their identity. A name is only as special as one makes it throughout their life, and is a reflection of how well one lives their life. On the one end of the spectrum, you have those who have ended up making their names known for the wrong reason, aka the FBI Ten Most Wanted Criminals. On the other end, you have those people whose names are to be revered because of the good they have done or the influence they have. And then there are those whose names have been stamped into history. If one is capable of doing something extremely remarkable (or extremely terrible during a critical period) history will remember your name long after you have died and impress upon you legacy. Names are an essential tool, without which one cannot hope to fathom working in the modern world.

My name in particular, Zahra, is derived from Arabic origins meaning “starlight.” I find my name to be a bit out of tune with other people, but generally I am quite fond of it. I sometimes feel queer about it though because I feel that people find it a bit odd to say, but I don’t mind in the least. Originally, my mother wanted to name me Aisha, but a few days after I was born, I became very sick. My grandmother suggested that the name “Aisha” didn’t “suit me very well” and was the cause of my illness. Of course that was not true, but my mm reconsidered and changed my name to Zahra.

My middle name came from my grandmother’s name. I was named after her because my mother is very close with her, and the name has a good message. I got my first name because my mom liked it. It’s Italian, and I am Italian. My mom was going to name both my brothers my name if they were girls.

My name means Rival Torch, from some What Does My Name Mean website. Otherwise, my mom liked Emily and my great grandma’s name was Lena. Emily Lena. ~Emily Lena

I was born named Baby Girl Medrano

I love my name. Amanda- one who is lovable or one eho loves. ^(^

My name is Melissa. I love my name exactly the way it is. My name means honey bee. My mom liked the name Melissa because when she was little her job was to take out the honey for the bees. So she thought to name the youngest a name that means honey bee.

My first name I don’t think describes me, boring normal story my mom read a baby book and found Laura and fell in love with it but my father thought that Lauren sounded better with my last name. I think my middle name is what really defines my personality and is strongly connected to my roots. My middle name is Keating. My mom noticed that my grandma’s maiden name would not be passed on to anyone because her brother never got married. So she decided to carry on the semi-lost family name she passed it to me. I think this defines me because I’m traditional and strongly connected to my roots. Also because Keating is different and I love being unique. Though it is still traditional.

I was born in Vicenza, Italy, on the army base. My mom and other women on the base would pick Italian or Latin names. So I was named Mercedes. Many people compare my name to the car, but I tell them this; Benz, the car maker, got the name Mercedes from the daughter of a friend of his, who was a French Financer. I love my name, not because it is named after the car, but because its’ meaning. Mercedes drivesa latin word that means merciful and I love it!!!

My name is Chrysanthi. I love my name and i would never change it. It means ”golden flower”.

My name is Samantha , and I don’t think I would want to change my name because I can be called by short nick names. Like sammy, or sam is fine with me. My mom and dad thought of the name, but this was going to be my middle name but my dad liked the name Samantha better. I think my name fits me well, and I wouldn’t want to change it at all.

I have been called Mickey, Mickey Mouse, Rob, Robbie, Robinarama. Don’t mind nicknames if they are from good friends or family. Another insulting use of general nicknames for females is, “sweetheart, honey, babe, etc. by men with whom you are NOT familiar. I will always correct them by telling them, “My name is not honey,” or ” I have a name, address me by it.” You don’t hear men being called babe or honey by strangers. Absolutely unacceptable.

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Film Colossus

Your Guide to Movies

A colossal explanation of Your Name (Kimi no Na wa)

Everything you need to know to understand this body-switching, time-traveling movie

Several fragments of a comet fall through the sky. Most of them won’t collide with Earth, but one breaks off and hurtles directly towards the town of Itomori. Soon, everybody there will be vanquished. The parents, the children, the teachers, the politicians, the businessmen will all be gone.

And that includes Mitsuha Miyamizu.

During these opening moments of Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) , we don’t realize Mitsuha is going to lose her life. All we know is that Mitsuha and Taki Tachibana, despite not knowing each other and being miles away from one another, have somehow bonded over this celestial event that has captivated Japan. Together, they recite these opening lines:

“Once in a while when I wake up, I find myself crying. The dream I must have had I can never recall. But the sensation that I’ve lost something lingers for a long time after I wake up. I’m always searching for something, for someone. This feeling has possessed me I think from that day when the stars came falling. It was almost as if a scene from a dream. Nothing more, nothing less than a beautiful view.”

Immediately, Your Name opens with a cryptic, ambiguous scene—a trend that will continue throughout. Despite its charm, success, and visceral power, Your Name has a very convoluted story that’s difficult to grasp, that has left many wondering if it’s a mess of a movie that doesn’t work.

I’ve spent hours cycling through the questions people have posted about this movie, and yes indeed, there is PLENTY of crazy stuff to explain (which I’ll do) in this movie. But before I get into explaining the plot of Your Name , let’s remember that opening quote from Mitsuha and Taki and what it represents. Because understanding the movie’s intentions will help shape how we make sense of its complicated parts.

What is Your Name about?

I think it’s very easy to get wrapped up in the logic of Your Name ’s narrative. Naturally, you want to pick apart every story development and plot hole to find out if the story’s foundation is sound. If a moment steps outside the movie’s logical structure? It triggers something in your brain. You start to focus on plot details, like how the Red String of Fate functions, or how Mitsuha’s and Taki’s realities could possibly intersect when they live three years apart, or how drinking kuchikamizake connects the two teenagers.

Essentially, you could become so enraptured with what all those elements represent on a rational level that we ignore the emotional core. So while many people on the Internet have attempted to explain the coherence of the plot, I think it’s essential to also include the human elements of the story. Like, what does this movie say about you and me? About the experience of finding love?

And our key insight into what Your Name is about? That quote from the beginning of the movie. Right off the bat, we’re introduced to two people who feel a connection to someone else…but don’t know who that someone is. There’s an emptiness both Taki and Mitsuha feel. There’s something missing. They are incomplete. They are, in that quote, expressing their desire to find their better half.

To find love.

Mitsuha and Taki’s description of what they feel when those comets fall through the sky isn’t specific, or logical, or definite—it’s ambiguous, and cryptic, and enigmatic. Love isn’t something you can explain, but it’s something you feel . And Your Name treats that feeling as an ethereal one. Love is not bound by space or time, but instead by the individuals who are inextricably connected no matter where they are.

I think this is an important mindset to have heading into a plot explanation of the movie. Because while all of the confusing plot elements of Your Name can be explained, I believe they gain power and even more meaning when we can connect those explanations to Mitsuha and Taki’s desire to find love—a feeling we can all empathize with.

A quick plot summary of Your Name

Part of the confusion people have with Your Name is it’s structure. Because Mitsuha exists three years behind Taki, and because the movie randomly jumps between those time periods, the story doesn’t flow in chronological order. Many times it can feel like Your Name is purposely leaving out information to trip you up.

But I PROMISE: all of the details are there. And I think the movie’s plot can be much better understood if we lay out all of its main components in chronological order.

Below is a timeline of the movie’s event in jpg form. You can use this for a bare-bones explanation of Your Name ’s plot. I’ll also list all of this out in text form below the image if you’d rather read it that way.

The rest of the article will go into much more detail on each part of the timeline.

1. The First Comet Strikes

Hundreds of years ago, a comet struck Earth and created the lake that Itomori now rests upon.

2. Mitsuha’s Mother Passes Away

After the passing of Mitsuha and Yotsuha’s mother, their father becomes detached from them and engrossed with politics. Their grandmother takes over parenting.

3. Mitsuha Performs the Kuchikamizake Ritual

Mitsuha and Yotsuha perform a ritual and create kuchikamizake, which they offer to their god at a shrine. She wishes to be a handsome Tokyo boy.

4. Mitsuha’s Body Switch

Mitsuha randomly wakes up as Taki, who lives three years in the future. This switch continues on random days for several weeks.

5. Mitsuha Finds Taki

Mitsuha tracks Taki down in Tokyo. Before being pushed out of the train, she manages to throw her red yarn bracelet to him.

6. The Comet Strikes Again

A fragment of another passing comet strikes Itomori. Taki watches from afar, while Mitsuha is vanquished.

7. Taki’s Body Switch

Taki now randomly wakes up in Mitsuha’s body in an alternate timeline three years before she passes away.

8. Taki Learns About Itomori

Taki decides to go looking for Mitsuha. He learns that she was from Itomori, which was destroyed by the comet three years earlier.

9. Taki Visits the Shrine

Taki visits the shrine he remembers from his time in Mitsuha’s body. He drinks the kuchikamizake. He then goes back in time and wakes up in Mitsuha’s body on the day the comet is set to strike Itomori.

10. Taki Tries to Save Mitsuha

Taki enlists help from Mitsuha’s friends to get everyone out of Itomori before the comet strikes.

11. Taki and Mitsuha Meet

At “tasogare-doki”, a time of day when different worlds blur together, Taki and Mitsuha switch back to their bodies and meet at the shrine. Taki gives Mitsuha her red yarn bracelet back, severing their connection.

12. Mitsuha Saves Itomori

Mitsuha travels back to Itomori and saves almost everybody.

13. Taki and Mitsuha Forget

Because Mitsuha never passed away, she and Taki now exist in present day. But because Taki gave Mitsuha back her red yarn, they forget one another.

14. Years Pass

As the years go by, both Taki and Mitsuha can’t shake the feeling that something (or someone) is missing from their lives.

15. Taki and Mitsuha Find Each Other

Taki and Mitsuha pass by one another on the train. They feel a connection and chase after each other. Finally, they meet, and each ask for the other’s name.

A detailed plot summary of Your Name

Now we’ll go through each of those events in more detail. By thinking about the movie in chronological order—as opposed to the jumbled order we experience when watching Your Name —I think we’ll be able to find a lot of answers to a lot of questions.

Explaining what the first comet strike means

It’s important to start from the beginning—like, the very beginning . Hundreds (or maybe even thousands?) of years before Mitsuha and Taki existed, a comet struck Earth.

It could be that two different comets struck Earth at two different points in time, but I’ll assume that, based on what happens to present-day Itomori, that the first comet split into several fragments as well. One of those fragments created the lake that Itomori would one day rest upon, and the other established a crater that houses the Miyamizu Shrine.

Even though the first comet isn’t given much attention in the movie, I think it’s important to address that first comet, as I think it shares both a divine and a metaphorical connection with the future comet that will destroy Itomori.

Think of the first comet splitting into two parts as a severed connection between two people—this is a key metaphor for the love shared between Mitsuha and Taki. The bond those two comet fragments share creates an otherworldly link between the lake and the shrine, and Mitsuha and Taki must use that connection to save Itomori from the future comet.

Explaining the Miyamizu family’s spiritual abilities

Early in Mitsuha and her sister Yotsuha’s childhood, their mother Futaba passed away. We learn this later in the movie when Taki visits the shrine.

From Taki’s vision, we learn that the death of Mitsuha’s mother devastated Mitsuha’s father, Toshiki. Blaming himself for not being able to save her, he becomes detached from the Miyamizu family and its traditions. One of those traditions was visiting their god at the Miyamizu Shrine. In effect, he abandons the Miyamizu family, leaving his daughters to be cared for by their grandmother and Futaba’s mother, Hitoha.

We later learn from Hitoha that all of the women in Miyamizu family line have spiritual ties with random people (which explains the link Mitsuha shares with Taki). However, for both Hitoha and Futaba, those connections faded over time and eventually became hazy memories. Essentially, nobody has ever come as close to meeting their spiritual partner as Mitsuha came to meeting Taki.

This is interesting, because it raises the question: was Toshiki actually “the one” for Futaba? Was Toshiki the person she shared a spiritual connection with? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe the person you share a spiritual connection with doesn’t have to be your “soul mate”, but instead someone you simply share a deep bond with.

More importantly, though, this reveals the film’s underlying obsession about the consequence of abandoning tradition. In Hitoha’s mind, respecting traditions and rituals are important, even when you don’t understand them. She breeds that attitude in Mitsuha, but is unable to have Toshiki carry on with the Miyamizu customs. So even if Toshiki was Futaba’s spiritual connection, the fact that he abandons Miyamizu traditions keeps him from re-establishing his connection with her—unlike Taki, who visits the Miyamizu Shrine and retains his connection with Mitsuha even after she passes away.

I think this information about the Miyamizu family exposes a celestial link between the first comet and the second comet. The first comet created the shrine that the Miyamizu family uses to pray to their gods. And in that shrine, the Miyamizu women perform a ritual where they leave “half” of themselves to the gods by creating kuchikamizake—a rice-based alcohol that uses human saliva as a fermentation starter. That other half then connects with someone else after you perform a ceremony.

This gives the Miyamizu family’s mystical abilities an actual purpose. These spiritual connections existed for generations so that, eventually, someone would be able to alert the Miyamizus about the second incoming comet (or at least some sort of future danger). This is why Hitoha wouldn’t allow Toshiki to tear Mitsuha and Yotsuha from family traditions—Hitoha understood the importance of leaving these customs intact. Which is why Hitoha has her granddaughters perform a ceremony where they make kuchikamizake and twine a red yarn thread.

Explaining the red yarn thread and the kuchikamizake ritual

During the ceremony where Mitsuha creates kuchikamizake, she dances with a piece of red yarn.

Mitsuha’s grandmother explained the significance of the red yarn that Mitsuha was twining just before the ceremony:

“Listen to the thread’s voice. When you keep twining like that, emotions will eventually start flowing between you and the thread. One thousand years of Itomori’s history is etched into our braided cords. Two hundred years ago, sandal maker Mayugoro’s bathroom caught on fire and burned down this whole area. That shrine and old documents were destroyed, and this is known as (The Great Fire of Mayugoro). So the meaning of the festivals became unknown and only the form lived on. But even if the words are lost, tradition should be handed down. That’s the important task we at Miyamizu Shrine have.”

A couple things to take away from that quote.

First, on a plot level, this information tells us quite a bit. The Miyamizu family used to know a lot more about their abilities, but everything was destroyed by The Great Fire of Mayugoro. Which means their “knowledge” has continued to pass down through the traditions and rituals they perform. So while the Miyamizu women have continued to experience spiritual connections with other people, they’ve never known what the connections mean or how to act upon them (which is why they eventually just become “hazy memories”).

It just so happens that the second comet strike occurs during the annual festival. To me, this means that the festival was always meant to serve as a warning of the second comet. Perhaps the festival took place on the anniversary of the first comet strike? Perhaps it was always known the second comet would strike, and that knowledge was passed down from generation to generation? Who knows. All we know is that that information was likely destroyed in the Great Fire.

And second, we gain some insight into Mitsuha’s character.

Her grandma says, “When you keep twining like that, emotions will eventually start flowing between you and the thread. One thousand years of Itomori’s history is etched into our braided cords.” Mitsuha forms some sort of ethereal connection with Itomori’s history when creating that thread. She becomes one with its past and its future—she becomes one with her home. And because she’s given the red yarn thread to Taki, she’s capable of maintaining this connection with her home even when she’s dead.

Building a life with someone means inviting them into your home, into your life, and then building a new home and life with them. So when she hands that thread to Taki later in the movie, she’s not just creating a spiritual link—she’s offering half of herself to someone she shares a bond with.

Ah, young love!

Explaining the logic of Mitsuha and Taki’s body switching

While performing the kuchikamizake ceremony, Mitsuha’s classmates make fun of her. Embarrassed, Mitsuha runs away from the ceremony and screams, “Please make me a handsome Tokyo boy in my next life!”

Remember: the kuchikamizake represents “half” of Mitsuha, and the red yarn carries with it Mitsuha’s connection with Itomori. The ceremony then triggers the connection between Mitsuha and Taki. Because Taki is three years in the future when Mitsuha is dead, the body switching then becomes Mitsuha’s “next life.”

SIDE NOTE: A lot of questions have been raised about how Mitsuha never realized she was three years in the future, or how Taki never realized he was three years in the past. Of course it’s never explained in the movie, but I think there are plenty of simple explanations for why this happens:

• First and foremost, please remember: THEY ARE SWITCHING BODIES. That would make any normal person go insane…which makes me think you probably wouldn’t notice that the day you think it is (say, August 22, 2013) isn’t the day it actually is (August 22, 2016).
• To repeat a point from above: I don’t think it’s super unreasonable to never check what year it is? 2013 looks like 2016, if you ask me. I mean, how often do you see the current year printed somewhere, or have to write down the year? Maybe if you’re writing a check or something. But I don’t think it’s that crazy for neither Mitsuha or Taki—who are, once again, VERY DISTRACTED BY THE FACT THEY’RE IN ANOTHER PERSON’S BODY—to not really worry about if it’s the same year.
• One last point: what if they DID know they were three years apart? That’s never stated in the movie, but it also might not be relevant information to them. That would only be important to Taki if he knew Mitsuha was from Itomori (he didn’t), and if he knew Itomori had been destroyed by the comet (he didn’t).

SECOND SIDE NOTE: There’s also confusion about how Taki never realizes Mitsuha lives in a town called Itomori…I wish I had a good explanation for that one! Seems hard to defend. The only defense, I guess, is that body switching is a stressful event, and he had other things on his mind than checking what town he’s in?

Explaining how Taki restarts the body switching with Mitsuha

Even after the body switching ends (that’s why they both start crying when they wake up), Taki remembers Mitsuha. He can picture her face. He can sketch her hometown so well from memory that people recognize it as Itomori. Even though Mitsuha is dead, Taki’s connection with her remains—all because of that red yarn thread.

Remember: that thread carries with it Mitsuha’s connection with Itomori. So when Taki returns to where the town once stood, he knows to return to the shrine where Mitsuha left her kuchikamizake.

Also remember: Mitsuha created the kuchikamizake, but it was Taki in Mitsuha’s body that offered the kuchikamizake in the Miyamizu Shrine.

When Taki arrives at the shrine in Mitsuha’s body, Mitsuha’s grandma says:

“In exchange for returning to this world, you must leave behind what is most important to you—the kuchikamizake. You’ll offer it inside the god’s body. It’s half of you.”

So Taki isn’t leaving behind half of himself, but the half of Mitsuha that Mitsuha had created with the kuchikamizake. This is what severs his body switching days with Mitsuha.

But back in the future where Mitsuha is dead, Taki is in his own body when he visits the shrine and drinks the kuchikamizake. This re-establishes the body switching and allows Taki—who then inhabits Mitsuha’s body the day of the comet strike—to save Itomori.

I believe this to be a poignant commentary on love. Even when someone is gone…they’re never truly gone from your life. You remember how they move, how they talk, how they act. And I think that Taki’s passion for finding someone he shared such an intense bond with represents how that kind of love can transcend time and space.

Explaining how tasogare-doki allows Mitsuha and Taki to finally meet

The climactic moment of Your Name is when Taki and Mitsuha finally meet. You might wonder how their bodies are suddenly able to transcend time and space to meet in the same spot, but this meeting was actually set up much earlier in the movie.

The first day after the body switching, Mitsuha wakes up in her body with no recollection of the previous day. Everybody keeps talking about how strange she was acting. And while she’s trying to piece everything together, she looks down in her notebook and reads a message from Taki: “Who are you?”

In a movie called Your Name …I mean, c’mon. This is an important moment, right? It’s the first instance of Taki and Mitsuha trying to figure out who the other is. The question isn’t necessarily “What is your name?” but instead “Why have I formed this strange connection with you?”

It just so happens that while Mitsuha is reading this message from Taki, her teacher is explaining the meaning of “tasogare-doki”.

“‘Tasokare’ means ‘who is that’ and is the origin of the word ‘tasogare-doki’. Twilight, when it’s neither day nor night. When the world blurs and one might encounter something not human.”

She then has an interaction with a student that you may not have caught, or may not have thought much of—but it’s important:

Teacher: “Old expressions include ‘karetaso-doki’. Karetaso/Kawatare = Who is that and ‘karetaso-doki.’”

Student: “Question! Why not ‘kataware-doki’?”

Teacher: “Kataware-doki? I think that’s a local dialect. I’ve heard that Itomori’s elderly still use classical language. We’re in the boonies, after all.”

When Taki and Mitsuha finally meet, their bodies travel through time to finally converge in the same time and space. This occurs at twilight (aka tasogare-doki) when their worlds blur together. Even though they’re three years apart, the connection between the first comet and the second comet that destroyed Itomori has allowed for two different timelines to merge—the world with Itomori, and the world without Itomori.

And that interaction the teacher shared with the student shows that tasogare-doki has carried different translations with it throughout time. The old expression, kataware-doki, is a “classical” language, meaning it was a term used often by elderly members of the community.

So why would the term kataware-doki be so prevalent at one time? Remember: that term is a local dialect. And it was substituted for tasogare-doki, indicating it had a similar meaning: a combination of “who is that” and the time of day when worlds blur together. At one time, the idea of different timelines merging was so important to the people of Itomori that they created their own word for it .

But, again, everyone has forgotten about the term kataware-doki. I think this, once again, exposes the film’s underlying message about the importance of tradition. This is why Toshiki was never able to retain his connection with Futaba after she passed away like Taki was able to retain his connection with Mitsuha—Toshiki rejected tradition, while Taki embraced it. Toshiki refused to visit the shrine and carry the Miyamizu tradition, while Taki decided to visit the shrine and re-establish his spiritual link with Mitsuha.

The abandonment of the word “kataware-doki” is symbolic of the history of Itomori being abandoned, only leaving behind elderly’s grasp on tradition. Taki and Mitsuha’s embracement of tradition allows them to retain their connection, regardless of time or space.

With all that in mind, I think that because the documents contained in the Miyamizu Shrine were destroyed by The Great Fire of Mayugoro, the knowledge of the phrase went with it. That term lived on as long as it could through the generations, but now only the elderly even remember the term.

I assume the word was created because the Miyamizus once understood the importance of the spiritual connections they shared with others. They knew that the land where the first comets struck was sacred, so they built a shrine there and housed all of their documented beliefs there as well.

Remember my theory about the first comet? That it shares both a divine and a metaphorical connection with the future comet that will destroy Itomori. Just like Taki and Mitsuha, the past and future comets that will strike Itomori are bound together, regardless of space or time. Just like there is a link between the lake and the shrine, there is an unbreakable bond shared between two young people in love.

This gets at the title of the movie, and highlights the importance of the classroom scene when Mitsuha sees the message from Taki. The movie is not about two people finding out each other’s names—it’s about truly understanding someone else. When Taki writes his “name” in Mitsuha’s hand, he doesn’t actually write his name—he writes “I love you.”

Love is hard work and requires two people to invest in one another. So even when Taki gives Mitsuha back her red yarn thread and their memory of one another is severed…they never really forget one another, right? They have this feeling that the other is still out there. And at the end of the movie when they pass by each other on the train, they know something is there and chase after each other.

So in that final shot of the movie, when Mitsuha and Taki ask for each other’s name, what they’re really doing is starting their life together. It takes a lot of courage to invite someone into your life like that, and you only do it when you feel something special with that person.

In effect, the entire movie becomes a defamiliarization of finding your true soulmate. You never know the name of the person you’ll end up with—but you know the person , right? You know the kind of person that will make you happy, that will become your other half, that will complete you. All you need is the courage to finally invite them in when you find them.

Editor’s Note: If you have more questions about Your Name , or if you have a theory of your own, hit me up in the comments section!

Travis is co-founder of Colossus. He writes about the impact of art on his life and the world around us.

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Reader Interactions

June 1, 2019

Wow! I’ve been blogging about this movie for a year and I still picked up some fresh insights here. Thanks!

September 19, 2019

Travis actually failed to realize that that the whole phenomenon is actually the mountain god’s doing. I already understood what was going on after a few rewatches and let me explain it by detail here, but hey these are just my opinions you can debunk it:

First off as all of you know the Miyamizu Family has been worshiping Musubi, the mountain god. Unknown to them however the god actually has the ability to to switch the consciousness of two people in different places of time as vaguely explained by the grandma when she, Taki (within Mitsuha’s body) and Yotsuha went to the shrine. Her line states: Musubi is the old way of calling the local guardian god. This word has profound meaning. Typing thread is Musubi. Connecting people is Musubi. The flow of time is Musubi. These are all the god’s power. So the braided cords that we make are the god’s art and represent the flow of time itself. They converge and take shape. They twist, tangle, sometimes unravel, break, and then connect again. Musubi – knotting. That’s time.

This explains a lot why this is happening to Taki and Mitsuha, it wasn’t caused by a wish Mitsuha wanted, it was the god’s power. Every line about Musubi in that paragraph can be related to what happened to the both of them.

They converge, take shape, twist, tangle = Taki and Mitsuha switching bodiesand forming a bond. Sometimes unravel, break = the timelines not in step, and the eventual hindrance of body switching. Then connect again = Taki being able to swtich with Mitsuha for the last time when he drinks Mitsuha’s rice wine (which by the way can be explained by saying that it is half of her and Musubi since it was created during the ritual).

Second, the comet isn’t a time glitch. Its just a natural phenomenon, there’s nothing really special about it. It is only relevant because the FIRST comet drop was where Musubi’s shrine is located, the SECOND is where the town of Itomori stands and the THIRD is supposed to destroy the town. At this point you’ll be able to say that Musubi is deliberately trying to save the people of Itomori or the Miyamizu family from the inevitable wipeout that will come in the next 1200 years by switching the eldest daughter of the family (probably Musubi’s rules) with a random boy somewhere in Japan after the ritual.

Taki and Mitsuha falling in love was Musubi’s intentions all along and we can say that he was actually hoping for it to happen but it wasn’t relevant enough until the third comet drop actually happened.

Why hasn’t the god just switched them the time of day before the comet dropped you might ask? Simple theory, Musubi’s powers has expirations. Or the god is actually wanting and hoping for Taki to figure out why he is drawn to a town he hasn’t been before which resulted to him finding that the town is destroyed and Mitsuha is already dead. Then comes the reswitch of the both of them happening after Taki drinks the wine offering which RECONNECTS him to the god and Mitsuha.

Also I think that switch during the day when Grandma, Yotsuha and Taki (within Mitsuha) went to the shrine was intentional cuz if ever his will to fill that missing piece of him is strong he knows where to look.

Third, Kataware doki; and I will restate it here, THE COMET IS NOT MAGICAL, I’m sorry I can’t help it. But yeah, the term Kataware-doki isn’t really something to focus on, the phenomenon that happened when Mitsuha and Taki meets at the shrine is just another trick Musubi pulled off for the both of them. He wouldn’t be a good god if he wasn’t gonna atleast make them see each other. It also makes sense that the god made them meet at the edge of the crater where the shrine is, it could mean Musubi’s powers is more powerful there. Also the sunset 6 o’clock… Look at the hands hmmmm.

Fourth, Taki doesn’t realize Mitsuha lives in Itomori until he wanted to. He just didn’t care until he fell inlove which means he’s almost forgotten everything and is just clinging onto that feeling he has been having.

Fun fact: IF Mitsuha didn’t switch with Taki who had a crush, the date will never happen. Which means they will almost never realize they’ve fallen inlove with each other, which also means Mitsuha will stay dead.

January 29, 2020

You and the author of this page both missed an important point.

The reason they forgot each other was explained by grandma when they first went to the shrine to drop off the sake; “past this point is ‘kakuriyo’; the underworld! In exchange for returning to this world, you must leave behind what is most important to you.”

Kakuriyo also means “world of the gods” or basically the “hidden world”.

That is the reason they lost their memories. They met up at that location a second time. Leaving it required leaving their memories of each other; the thing that was most important to them.

Likewise, you forgot that the inside of the shrine to their god depicts the comet itself.

“MUSUBI” IS THE COMET.

That’s why they drew it inside the shrine. That’s why the shrine is its first impact site. Musubi IS the comet.

Besides, Shinto doesn’t have “gods” in the way you describe. A Kami is a prevailing spiritual existence whose manifestation is the unique character of a particular location or thing. A Kami is something that you must understand and work with, possibly even bribe, trick, or appease through rituals.

Because a Kami IS the place, it IS the thing. When you treat the kami of your coffee table right, it means you give it the necessary maintenance, place it in the right location, and use it according to tradition – which makes it last longer and stay unbroken.

When you give the “powerful” kami of the forest respect it means you don’t trample through it at night with impunity or you are likely to be punished for your hubris by tripping on something you didn’t see, breaking a leg, and getting eaten by chipmunks… which makes YOU last longer and stay unbroken.

In modern Itamori (where they have LOST ALL RECORDS) the defining characteristics are the Hida mountains and Musubi is a mountain kami/god.

In truth, it is not a mountain god and the mountains are not the overwriting characteristic underlying the spiritual character of that land. It is the Comet that comes every 1200 years. The comet whose crater they live in. The comet whose center holds the shrine to their Musubi. Not the mountains.

“Musubi is the old way of calling the local guardian god. This word has profound meaning. Typing thread is Musubi. Connecting people is Musubi. The flow of time is Musubi. These are all the god’s power. So the braided cords that we make are the god’s art and represent the flow of time itself. They converge and take shape. They twist, tangle, sometimes unravel, break, and then connect again. Musubi – knotting. That’s time.”

The Comet and its tail appear as a braided cord. It returns and breaks, connects (with your town) and leaves again. It is like time at Kakuriyo, it twists, tangles, unravels, breaks, and connects again. Time Is a knot at Kakuriyo and Kakuriyo is the manifestation of the Comet where Musubi’s shrine resides. Inside the shrine is a mural of Musubi: the Comet.

The comet is 100% the source of this phenomenon. There have been not one, not two, but at least 3 impacts there. First, the one that created the shrine of Musubi, then the one that created the lake, then the one that destroys Ishimori.

We could not even make a weapon that could strike so accurately as that comet does every 1200 years.

That comet’s accuracy is honestly so unbelievable that if you said it was an advanced alien weapon it’d be more plausible statistically.

The rituals are a covenant with Musubi that bring them to that crater in that way every autumn before the comet is to return on its 1200 year cycle. If you dispense with all the god talk, then the sake and the shrine are just props that lure both subjects to the crater so they can coordinate.

In that case the god is whatever remnant of the first impact is causing the phenomenon and the rituals are a means of taking advantage of that phenomenon.

Shintoism is then a methodology for surviving or using the Kami – the spiritual manifestation of the prevailing character of a region. In this case it was exceptionally successful.

BTW: sunset at that location in 2016 on oct 22 was 16:56 – comet impact was 20:42

April 25, 2020

That was a very great explanation I did watch the anime when it came out in Japan, but yeah i kept thinking about it a lot! LIKE A LOT!!! Anyhow um yeah i just have to say that Itomori means ‘Thread Guard’

January 5, 2021

Hoyt, Please, how did you find that the sunset was at 16:56? I can’t

October 22, 2020

I agree! Honestly, I understood the story’s concept on the Musubi part. I mean, that word alone can explain a lot of the strange events happening to the both of them. Japanese language is truly amazing.

December 31, 2022

Thanks, Glitchygoo!

June 22, 2019

thank you very much for this, i just watched this with my son, i was so confused, love the movie but just didnt get some parts

June 24, 2019

Thanks.. A decent explanation.

June 26, 2019

one question.. were Mitsuha and Taki the same age? refering to the scene where Taki saw the list of victims of the comet strike, Mitsuha was 17. the present (when he saw the victim list) Taki was 17 too wasn’t he? so they never really have the same age right? on that case, Mitsuha is 3 years older than Taki isn’t she? please do educate me on this, I’m so dying to know.

November 2, 2019

Yes. Mitsuha is 3 years older than Taki.

July 10, 2019

Taki is actually 3 years younger than Mitsuha (and teshi and sayaka too) This is shown on multiple instances in the movie 1. Mitsuha goes to tokyo one day before the comet and meets taki in train, Taki here is clearly younger than her (check their heights) 2. At last scene, they meet each other finally, these days taki is job hunting while mitsuha is already working on her job and dressed up like a regular working adult 3. When taki sees teshi and sayaka, in the cafe they’re planning their wedding(which doesnt just happen after your college) while taki has just finished his college/education

July 11, 2019

One thing I think you neglected to point out of the beginning and during your timeline explanation.

Taki forgot Mitsuha because in the cave – the grandmother said “In exchange for returning to this world, you must leave behind what is most important to you.” At that moment in time, Mitsuha is what matters most to Tak and vice versa. So once he and Mitsuha leave the crater, they forget each other – leaving each other behind.

Ignore my original comment I somehow skipped over the part where you explicitly referred to the quote i mentioned.

ha, it’s all good!

March 29, 2022

2 questions

First in the png it says mitsuha experiences the switching then after she died taxi starts switching bodies does that mean mitsuha was switching bodies first/before taxi started switching. I always thought that they both were simultaneously switching bodies just in different time periods

Second in the png it’s says taxi wakes up in mitsuha body in a alternate timeline. How is there a alternate timeline? Were did it come from?. I believed that they were switching bodies at the same time so the scenes with mitsuha show what she went through before her death

Plz answer I NEED ANSWERS

First, “Your Name” is a Japanese animated film directed by Makoto Shinkai. It was released in 2016 and became a worldwide phenomenon, grossing over $300 million at the box office.

The story follows the lives of two high school students, Mitsuha and Taki, who live in different parts of Japan. Mitsuha is a girl living in a rural town in the mountains, while Taki is a boy living in Tokyo. One day, they both start experiencing strange occurrences where they wake up in each other’s bodies. They begin to communicate through notes and messages, and they start to develop feelings for each other despite never having met in person.

As they continue to switch bodies, they try to find a way to meet and figure out the mystery behind their strange connection. Along the way, they must also confront a series of challenges and dangers that threaten to keep them apart.

“Your Name” is a heartwarming and emotional tale of love, friendship, and the power of human connection. It has received widespread acclaim for its beautiful animation, compelling storytelling, and thought-provoking themes.

Secondly, “Your Name” is a Japanese animated film directed by Makoto Shinkai. It was released in 2016 and became a worldwide phenomenon, breaking box office records in Japan and earning critical acclaim.

The movie follows the story of two high school students, a boy named Taki and a girl named Mitsuha, who live in different parts of Japan. One day, they suddenly begin to switch bodies randomly, waking up in each other’s lives and trying to navigate the challenges of living in a foreign body. As they continue to switch bodies, they try to communicate with each other and figure out what is happening to them.

As they search for answers, they also begin to develop feelings for each other, and they struggle to find a way to meet and be together in person. The film explores themes of fate, longing, and the power of human connection, and it features stunning animation and an emotionally powerful score. If you enjoy romantic dramas with a touch of fantasy, “Your Name” is a must-see.

July 19, 2019

Nice explanation. I originally watched this in a theater in Tokyo without any English subtitles, and I just got around to watching it with English, so it is really nice to see a decent attempt to explain the contents.

While reading this, I wondered if kataware could be related to the splitting of time and identity. My first instinct was that “かたわれ” (kataware) might be interpreted as 方 (kata – person) 割れ (ware – split). I looked it up in a dictionary and also found 片割れ (kataware), which means fragment. It all depends on the Chinese characters that are chosen to write it.

July 22, 2019

hi i think the event when mitsuha whishes being a boy is after she switch body for the first time. Tessie-Sayaka explain she is weird yesterday->going to so called cafe (mitsuha went straight to her place) -> she’s dance at shrine while made sake -> the wishes. That what i thought, cause for the first switch they thing it’s only a dream. And i assume that whole scene were happen in one day (morning-night)

July 24, 2019

I can contribute a bit more with the cultural background.

The Miyamizu family deity is Musubi. Musubi may refer to: Musubi-no-Kami, the Shinto Kami of matchmaking, love, and marriage, similar to the Chinese Yue Lao.

Yue Lao (Chinese: 月老; pinyin: Yuè Lǎo; literally: ‘old man under the moon’) is a god of marriage and love in Chinese mythology. Yue Lao appears at night, and unites with a silken cord all predestined couples, after which nothing can prevent their union. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yue_Lao )

That’s why Taki and Mitsuha are connected by the red cord and met at twilight.

September 12, 2019

Interesting, with the context of 月老 in place, that totally explain the red thread. It works in mysterious ways I guess!

Another tell from the poem on the blackboard.

The poem reads – Please dont ask me, “who’s that in the gloom?” I am waiting here for my love, in the September dusk.

The author is unknown, but it is from Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves.

Mitsuha’s name in Japanese means three leaves, and her sis is four leaves and grandma is one leave.

Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves is a collection of poems from their ancestors.

August 10, 2019

I don’t remember exactly but I think it may be japanese, but it’s this theory of the red string. It’s the red threat of fate. It’s believed that a god ties the red string to each other and that is your soulmate. And the scene where Taki falls and is seeing Mitsuhas life is all connected by a red thread and it’s connected through space and time.

August 12, 2019

In Sweden there is the idiomatic expression “the red thread”. It is used when discussing a story and if the story can be easily followed by the reader. For example if you say that a story lacks a red thread it means it is incoherent. I’m guessing the expression somehow found it’s way here from Asia. Alternatively Wikipedia also says that Theseus rescued himself from the Minotaur with a red thread. Maybe all these three things in three different places on earth come from the same origin?

August 17, 2019

Thank you for explaining, but I still have a question and I’d like to hear your opinion. How did Mitsuha leave notes in Taki’s phone, if she was from the future? I am so confused.

August 25, 2019

They were literally switching bodies, and as the movie description states, it’s a fantasy animation that incorporates science fiction — which gives the idea of time travel. As Mitsuha traveled through time into Taki’s body and vice versa, they were actually living in each other’s “current time” for those days. Because the instances where Taki switches bodies with Mitsuha is before the comet strikes her town, I think we can presume that she isn’t dead, which allows them to leave those feelings and memories within each other, no matter whose body they’re in (sort of like it’s engraved into their hearts).

August 26, 2019

Twin flames

September 8, 2019

Did taki and mitsuha ended up being together? Because at the Movie Weathering With You they aren’t shown together though..

September 11, 2019

finally, someone is talking abt that. I mean… Mitsuha was at work, but i wanna believe that they are together XD

There are many cameo appearances; Taki and Mitsuha probably being the most prominent. Chronologically it seems like it could have been around the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The new stadium has been completed in the movie, but it’s still under construction at the moment (Aug. 2019). We see Mitsuha working at a jewelry store wearing the name tag “Miyamizu”, so she isn’t married to Taki. Chronologically Taki and Mitsuha didn’t know each other yet in 2020 so they meet after the events of the movie. But considering how Tenki no Ko ends, it breaks space/time continuity. I’d prefer not having cameos if they don’t fit the world.

Source: https://medium.com/@crean/what-i-think-of-tenki-no-ko-67c7a0f23e1

July 27, 2020

In japan, It is not an obligation for women to have their husband’s last name. Conversely, when a surname remains only on a woman, the man can use his wife’s surname, and the surname is not lost in history. So, we can imagine that they are together and that he adopted her last name. ^.^

May 20, 2021

Refer to the time lines. Weathering with you happen before taki and mitsuha meet each other( They meet physically on 2022 april 8 in manga) . Weathering with you happen in 2021 after 8 years from the commet strike. ( dates can be clearly seen in a poster in WwY and in text messages) Referance: https://kiminonawa.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline

October 5, 2019

Hi, thanks for this. I have seen the movie 3x and actually read the book but still i was shocked to know that there’s a 3 year gap on their age ?. Anyhow, i what i really want to know is how did mitsuha managed to convinced her dad to evacuate the townspeople?? ?

October 2, 2021

As far as I understand it, the first time Mitsuha (Taki in Mitsuha’s body) attemped to convince her dad to evacuate Itomori her father didn’t believe her because he could tell that it wasn’t Mitsuha. After they switch at the shrine, and it is Mitsuha (Mitsuha back in Mitsuha’s body), and she falls over and realises that Taki loves her as he wrote it on her hand, I’m under the impression that her father decides that she isn’t lying or mad, now that he can tell it is truly his daughter and not someone else in her body.

October 12, 2019

So Ycamzep, Just my current train of thought here. But im guessing Mitsuha ‘simply’ explains her connection with Taki, their meeting at the crater and how that took place after Taki drank the sake. Perhaps her father tried to do the same after Mitsuha’s mother died but was unable to bring her back, which is why he blames himself for her death and turned his back on becoming a priest. As he no longer believed in the spiritual connection since it failed for him, meaning he was not her ‘true’ love as determined by the gods. The grandmother said earlier that they hadn’t met with the ones they were connected to earlier on so this would make sense. Back to Mitsuha explaining to her dad, he has the realisation of what has happened since he would have known about the traditions, gods etc. So it’s not out of the blue for him to do a 180 and save the town because he already has an understanding of the rituals involved and the near legend of the spirits.

Anyways really wanna go visit some the locations if I ever get the chance to go to Japan.

November 5, 2019

Does anyone else get lsd vibes from this? I saw it for the first time not long after acid and just the whole look of it is similar especially and the circle place they meet. The fact it is a circle for a start ya know. Also does anyone else realise the swap is always 12th & 13th? Does anyone know why. After closer look in to these numbers 12 is related to 666 and obviously 13 is seen at the unlucky number. However some places suggest 13 is an angel number and the meaning is misconclued. Just very interesting how me and the current girl I’m seeing are born on these dates. Myself 13th of 6th and her 12th of 11th. We found it impossible to watch the film until it got to the time of 6 first time we watched it which was recently. Then I realized anime is an anagram of name with an i added and her name is anna which is similar to anagram and anime. We both have a large interest in anime and we met through instagram. If this makes sense to anyone else please reply because is it just me or does it all add up a little too well? Are some people caught in the loop of 5 and others the loop of 6

November 8, 2019

Why movie is named as your name

November 26, 2019

Could there also be a metaphor here for a separation from God/heaven, and the love shared between Earth and heaven?

November 28, 2019

1) yeah, as someone noted: the wish to be a boy in her next life comes after the ritual. At lunch after the first switch (apparently) which she couldn’t remember, Sayaka mentions the upcoming ritual. And this was after finding the “who are you?” note.

2) I totally don’t think it was two comets. It totally seems to be the same one comment that fragmented when it passed by earth 1,200 years ago, and again in 2013.

February 2, 2020

If the thread is equal to the twisting of time it makes since when Taki unravels it and give it to her meaning the timeline is broken but is fixed when she ties the thread back together as a different timeline on her body.

February 4, 2020

Love all of it. I do, however, want to share my opinion on why they forgot each other. At first, I also thought it was the time paradox that created the memory loss but when I think about how the Miyamizu shrine requires an offering or “equal exchange”, I thought the reason why they forgot about each other is because Taki and Mitsuha came to the Underworld without any offerings. Because of this, the Underworld took something of equal importance; their memories of each other.

June 22, 2020

i love ure brain bro

February 19, 2020

Do someone knows why Mitsuha nor remember his meeting and body switches with Taki after she saved the town? Why they remember it as “a disaster exercise” after the fact?

March 21, 2020

they’re in different timelines, right? Mitsuhaya and Taki met on top of the mountain but after the twilight they return to their perspective timeline. If mitsuhaya was back in her timeline (2013) she would be alive with Taki in her timeline (the Taki who didn’t know she exist by the time) . And on the other hand the Taki we see on the top of the mountain was back in his timeline (2016) where he no longer have mutsuhaya as his counterpart Coz in that timeline mitsuhaya died.

So the Taki and mitsuhaya we saw in the ending(stair scene) is the Taki and mitsuhaya of 2013 . So in this timeline we have a saved mitsuhaya while on the other we don’t.

April 9, 2020

I was very hooked in the plot of the story and I find it very interesting but the ending is lacking for me. ?I really want to read or watch their happy ending/ their reunion. Can I have a copy?

April 24, 2020

If Taki and Mitsuha were 3 years apart,how did they communicate to each other while switching bodies through notes,phone diaries and when they write on their skins asking their names?

May 8, 2020

Can you explain what was meant when the grandma said to taki(in mitsuhas body) “you’re dreaming”. i didn’t understand this part.

June 25, 2020

I don’t think it’s timeline for forgetting each other…. Your think that mitsuha alive and therefore timeline changes… it’s wrong bcz if the timeline why he go to the itomori Village…. He go to itomori but he didn’t remember why..???

According you saying the timeline changes…. I assume ur theory then I think if it’s timeline changed then he didn’t go to itomori Village…..

The reason why they forget each bcz it’s like a dream they don’t remember….. Her grandmother also said …that too that she also switches but she also don’t remember…

June 26, 2020

When they switch, they would both put notes in the person’s phone. Which means, If Taki switches with Mitsuha, he is in her body. His way of communicating with her is by writing some notes on her diary since he knows she will check up on it. When they switch back, Mitsuha is back on her body. She will go to her diary and see what he left on their or check on other places where he could have written it like notebook, arm, face, etc.

They couldn’t communicate by calling each other’s phones (shown that it fails when Taki was trying to call Mitsuha) because they are in different universes so their numbers will be unregistered or will be someone else’s phone. So the only communication is writing on each other’s phones when they switch. Its just like switching notebooks with your classmate and you write a note for your classmate to see. When you switch back, your classmate will see it and they will write back.

Sorry if I’m repetitive.

July 2, 2020

This website was… how do you say it? Relevant!! Finally I have found something that helped me. Thank you!

July 11, 2020

is taki change the past because of what he drink at the shrine?

August 8, 2020

My only question here is, is there any particular reason why Mitsuha’s time travel is 3 years to the future?

August 13, 2020

How did Taki and Mitsuha meet in 2021? Their time frame doesn’t match the same

September 10, 2020

Thanks . Can anyone explain me what happened to mitsuha when she was in taki body first time ? I’m so confused about why mitsuha noticed body switching in second time after seeing ‘who are you?’ that taki asked in first time.

October 25, 2020

Please tell me this, do they remember what all they have been through at the end when they re unite on the starcase.

January 12, 2022

no they don’t remember everything. They just know that there is a weird connection between them. Taki recognises Mitsuha’s hair tie (the red thread) and feels the connection he has with her through it. He finally says something to her at the end on the stairs because of this connection and she feels the same. Their past isn’t remembered by either of them, however.

November 2, 2020

Ohk.. I understood everything abt the 3 years gap from the movie itself.. But the thing that triggers me is was there really an alternate timeline.. I mean this could have also happened( mitsuha exchanges Taki’s body,goes to tokyo but is unrecognized by taki,comet hits then she dies.. Leaving the taki of same 2013 witnessing the comet.. Then after 3 years taki exchanges body of the same mitsuha that died on Oct 4 2013.. But since he exchanged her body in the time before she was killed.. He was able to experience the same mitsuha’s body who was going to be killed.. Then in this case, why would we need an alternate timeline

November 10, 2020

Makoto shinkai is really amazing he had remained the story at thier main points so that we can develop our on Theories

December 1, 2020

I think the most certain point of the story is that Taki associated with mitsuha to save itomori from the past.

December 17, 2020

in the part where taki and his friends searching for itomori like in his dream i dont remember what is called like dreaming a past event that happened and then trying to find it and then its already gone like in itomori town

January 9, 2021

Loved the film! Finished watching it 2 nights ago and everything about it is brilliant. From the story, the animation, the art, the love and comedy! Thankful I found this site because reading through this post and the comments definitely helped answer a couple of questions I had.

It would be good to think that after they finally meet at the end of the film and ask for each other’s name that their memories come back. But at least if not, they can continue forward with each other starting with a strong connection. When they lost their memories first time I didn’t think too much of it but losing the memory the secone time I was confused as to why. I can accept that leaving the shrine meant their memories were also taken due to stepping into the underworld and also Taki returning the red strand. When Taki wakes up at the crater, it is now an alternate time line where Mitsuha survives, but I think I missed the part where her age was next to her name.

Losing memories is one thing but their messages from their phones disappearing I am not sure if that should have happened, maybe it should. But how could they both lose memories the first time when only one went to the shrine, perhaps because half of Mitsuha was left behind technically, or due to Taki losing his, she also lost her due to the connection.

Lots and lots of themes in this anime film. I never did catch that they were 3years apart. This element really added to the film. They switched bodies at the same age but I wonder how their relationship would unfold now that they met and are not just 3yrs apart, but one is a working adult and one just finished college looking for work.

Truly a masterpiece and great time travel film.

January 25, 2021

Hi. I have 4 questions regarding Your Name.

Why did Taki suddenly forget Mitsuha’s name while researching about her town, but remembered it later when he went into the shrine?

Why did Taki forget Mitsuha and the fact that she was the person who gave him the red braided string when he met her 3 years ago?

They say, they forget memories of the switch after waking up, but there are instances where they remember. For instance, Mitsuha remembers that she set up a date for Taki when she swaps back to her own body. Another instance is that Taki retains his memories of the day he visited the shrine in Mitsuha’s body. I assume here they retain the memories because it was their final switch or because Taki swapped back in twilight?

What are the conditions for swapping and swapping back? I know they wake up in each other’s bodies but Taki switched back into his body when he was awake in Mitsuha’s body.

April 7, 2021

Hi Rick! My responses:

1. It seems that Taki is slowly forgetting Mitsuha’s name the longer she has been dead. So he needs to keep reminding himself of her name. But as time passes, it gets harder and harder. That’s why we see it come and go.

2. That is funny. My guess is that the memory was just a fleeting one. He remembers that he received the string more than he remembers her exact face.

3. Do they retain the memories in full? They write down everything for each other. So we’re not always seeing them retaining memories, but instead hearing them speak the words they wrote down in a voiceover. I admit, though, it’s kinda confusing. I’m not sure there’s a clearcut answer.

4. Did Taki switch back while he was in Mitsuha’s body? I honestly don’t remember that. Anyway, it just seems like they switch randomly, right? I’m not sure there’s a clear reason or pattern when it comes to the switching.

Hope that helps!

June 6, 2021

To add on, it is entirely possible to not remember how one received a gift and somehow regard it as a “lucky charm”.

Taki may not have thought much of it after receiving, and put it aside until 1-2 years later. He could have found it again in his belongings, thought it’s nice and kept it as his lucky charm.

I say this, because I recently found a very nice token gift when I was going through my stuff, but I really couldn’t remember how or who I got it from. So yea.

Anw thanks Travis! I like your analysis of the movie and appreciate that you took the time to share your thoughts!

March 11, 2021

Bro I never watched and read their story explanation like this …but I had one question when taki went searching for mitsuha he didn’t remember her name but when he saw her name in the book of death people how he remembers and finds mitsuha name in the book. How?

March 21, 2021

He doesn’t remember he jst got this feeling of grief…. He doesn’t really understand y tho

To be honest I don’t remember this moment in exact detail. But I think he starts to forget her name, then looks through every name in the book, then when he notices her name he suddenly remembers it. Right? It’s like when Taki had to write his name down for her. They need to see the names to remember each other after a while.

“But I think he starts to forget her name, then looks through every name in the book, then when he notices her name he suddenly remembers it. Right?”

Well Travis Bean, there are many reasons why people might forget things. Some common causes of forgetfulness include:

Lack of attention: If you didn’t pay much attention to something when you first learned it, it’s more likely that you’ll forget it later.

Interference: Sometimes, new information can interfere with your ability to remember something that you learned previously. This is known as “interference.”

Absentmindedness: People are more likely to forget things when they are distracted or preoccupied with something else.

Stress and anxiety: Stress and anxiety can interfere with your ability to remember things.

Aging: As we get older, our brains naturally become less efficient at forming new memories and retrieving old ones.

Sleep deprivation: Not getting enough sleep can affect your memory.

Substance abuse: Alcohol and certain drugs can impair memory function.

Medical conditions: Some medical conditions, such as depression, anxiety, and certain neurological disorders, can affect memory.

Medications: Some medications, such as benzodiazepines and antihistamines, can cause memory problems as a side effect.

Remembering things can be a complex process, and there are many factors that can influence it. If you’re having trouble remembering things, it’s important to talk to a doctor or other healthcare professional for help.

March 29, 2021

Haha. Nice!!

August 2, 2021

If mitsuha died in taki’s time 3 years ago and then taki return to itomori and travels back to mitsuha’s body the day before the comet strikes and save the people. Why did taki go in itomori 5 years ago as said in the near ending when he’s talking to ms. Okudera and said to sleep in the mountain if mitsuha never died in that timeline? Does this mean that all of the people change their memories regarding to the comet strikes that killed all the people to miraculously nobody died because they are practicing an emergency evacuation in school

August 12, 2021

November 12, 2021

Thanks for unraveling this complex plotline. Appreciate the art of the movie much more after your explanation. One suggestion though, please delete “Just like how celebrating Thanksgiving allows us to connect with Pilgrims who happened upon America”. Remembering the Pilgrims and the beginning of genocide against native Americans isn’t the analogy you are looking for.

November 21, 2021

Wow so much to take in what a great story. I may have felt my Spidey senses couple times there. I’m happy to have read it. Thanks

December 20, 2021

Bonjour Mais a la fin , elle est censé être morte . (3 ans dans le passé). Pourtant elle est toujours en vie puisqu’elle croise Taki . Merci pour toutes vos explications.

July 1, 2022

I Talk To Her Name FREDLYNE MAXI or Nothing or Other ?

January 17, 2023

I watched this movie this morning. I thought I was just not paying attention to the movie but turns out it was very hard to follow. After I rewinded and watch part of the movie again I realized Taki was 3 years ahead of Mitzuha. This article helped me confirm that. Thanks for your help!

You are very welcome! Thanks for reading!!

June 14, 2023

When Mitsuha and Taki would switch bodies how did they not notice which year they are in. As later we learn that Taki was 3 years ahead of Mitsuha.

July 29, 2023

Hey Dynamo! Not Travis but the other person on this site. You ask a very good question lol. That’s what we call a logic gap. It’s not necessarily a plot hole as a plot hole is an absolute impossibility given the rules of the world. But a logic gap is when something could have a reason but we’re just never told what it is. Some logic gaps are completely fine and we don’t worry about them. Others, like this, can be kind of gamebreaking. I’m guessing the filmmakers just hoped that people wouldn’t think too much about it. You can also explain it as they’re both so caught up by how strange all of it is that they never notice? Another theory could be that it’s part of the “spell”. The same way that Mitsuha and Taki eventually forget one another because of how the spell works, it’s possible that details like the exact year are foggy or something they forget. That’s the blessing and the curse of logic gap issues. You can usually find some kind of reason to give the story the benefit of the doubt, or it can just sound absurd lol.

April 10, 2023

I have watched the movie at least 6 or 7 times, each time I catch something I hadn´t before. After reading this I am ready to watch it again with a much deeper understanding. Thank you for the hours invested in writing!

November 15, 2023

I did not read through all of the comments but I wanted to mention how the text messages had disappeared. One reasoning I cam to was how the grandmother had said that the thread comes apart and is put back together. You might look for her saying this when she is weaving, but I think she talked about how fates intertwine and unravel and intertwine again when they were walking up the mountain to leave the rice wine. This is my theory anyway. Thank you for sharing all of your insights I look forward to watching it again.

November 20, 2023

That is beautifully put! I love that. It modernizes a very ancient and traditional idea. Makes the connection between past and present feel eternal. So cool.

February 26, 2024

That’s a good theory!

January 4, 2024

Did Taki change the past when he switched bodies again later to warn about the comet and did everyone from year 2016 or smth forgot that in year 2013 the comet killed 500 people I’m so confused about that. And was 2016 the present or the future

April 3, 2024

What a great showcase of this masterpiece, thank you alot for summarizing this beautiful piece of art!

April 9, 2024

You are very welcome! Glad you enjoyed our insights 🙂

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Essays About Names: Top 5 Examples Plus Prompts

Your name is an important part of your identity; if you are writing essays about names, you can start by reading our top essay examples and prompts.

What is a name? Our names are words or groups of words by which we humans, other living organisms, places, things, and ideas are referred to. Everything has a name, from ourselves to our pets to the neighborhoods, cities, and countries we live in. It identifies us, separates us from others, and forms a crucial piece of our identity. 

Our names are often regarded as the outermost layer of who we are, as it is how we are known and introduce ourselves. But, at the same time, our names can form the core of our being. Each of us is given a name for different reasons, and if we find those reasons to be significant, we may plan our lives in a way that lives up to our beliefs about our names. Writing an essay but need some help? Check out our guide packed full of transition words for essays .

5 Essay Examples

1. embracing the mystery: the story of my name series by maría schindler, 3. what’s in a name reflections on who we are and what we are called by haleema shah, 4. the importance of names by chris giovagnoni, 5. how i changed my name by ellen kittle, 1. the importance of names, 2. the story behind your name, 3. the impact of a name, 4. if you could change your name, 5. how to name a child.

“So in a way, my middle name represents safety, survival and chosen family. Now, as an adult with a chosen family of my own, I understand the importance of finding familial bonds in others who make you feel safe, who feel like home when the world is hostile. I also like that Mikkol resides between my first and last names, that act as buffers, returning the favor of protection that Mikkol provided for my mom.”

Schindler writes about the story behind her middle name, Mikkol. She was named after her mother’s best friend since middle school; Mikkol was always there for her mother when she needed it, and when things got chaotic at home, Schindler’s mother would go to Mikkol’s house for safety and comfort. Perhaps Schindler’s mother recalled these feelings when naming her daughter. Schindler is proud of her name and what it means, giving her safety and protection. 

2. What’s Your Name, Girl? by Thelma Austin

“All in all the story was able to capture many views on how the idea of names goes deeper than just the words. Our experience with interaction counts on us to remember our names and in the story it showed a dark side of human engagement where feelings aren’t mutually shared. The  author’s job was seen to be very encouraging because it contained the abilities to allow the reader to develop a position and find supporting evidence to back up claims.”

In her essay, Austin analyzes the significance of names in Maya Angelou’s short story, “What’s Your Name, Girl?” In particular, the story emphasizes how names can contribute to our personality. The story, taking place in the segregated South, sees black women’s names being changed by their white employers. Just as their rights are being taken away, so are their names. You might alos be interested in these essays about your name .

“Others may choose to make a statement by retaining the name they have grown comfortable with. After rejecting the institution of marriage for most of her life and throughout her career as a leader of the second-wave feminist movement, Gloria Steinem wed David Bale in 2000. Steinem kept her last name though, while Beyoncé, an icon of the current wave of emancipated femininity, fused her name with her husband’s, becoming a Knowles-Carter in 2008.”

Shah reflects on the importance of our names to our identities and gives several examples of celebrities who exemplify this idea, such as basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who changed his name to reflect his African heritage and culture. She also discusses activist Gloria Steinem and singer Beyoncé, whose status as feminist icons is reflected in their married names; Steinem kept her maiden name while Beyoncé fused her last name, Knowles, with that of her husband’s, becoming a Knowles-Carter. 

“When Yudea gave birth to her daughter, “she couldn’t buy milk or vitamins to boost her daughter’s health, so her daughter got sick easily.” After enrolling in the CSP, this changed. She received nutritious food, vitamins, milk and a lot of information that supported her as a pregnant mother. She also was able to go to regular pregnancy checkups at the doctor without having to think twice about what she and her husband would have to pay. So when she gave birth to her second child, a healthy son, Yudea showed her thankfulness to God by naming her son Cisipi.”

Giovagnoni discusses the meaning and importance of names from a more religious perspective, explaining the religious reasoning behind his name, which means “Christ-bearer.” Names can tell us a lot about who we should be if that is something we desire. He also recalls a story about a mother named Yudea, who enrolled in the Compassion Survival Program and got access to food, clean water, and medical care. Her life changed dramatically for the better, so when she gave birth, she named her son Cisipi, which means “grateful to God.”

“My name has never felt like something I can shed easily, putting on a new one; not like going off to college and deciding to tell all your new friends your name is Liz rather than Beth.  Were it not for this cosmic wallop to the head, I would still be on the fence. I do know now that for me it’s the right thing; for Cam and I to share the same name.”

Kittle recalls the struggle she and her husband Cam had with cancer and the internal struggle she experienced simultaneously with changing her last name. She had always been proud of her name; she felt it was entirely hers- not her father’s or his family’s. However, after all, they had gone through, Kittle eventually decided to change her last name out of love for her husband. 

5 Writing Prompts On Essays About Names

Our names are important, but why exactly is this the case? Discuss why it is essential to be thoughtful in naming and the role a name plays in our identities. You can also describe what someone’s name can tell you about them. Delve into your own opinions on the importance of names to create a compelling essay for your readers.

Everyone’s name has a meaning and backstory. Explore the reasons behind the name you were given, and explain what your name means to you. Describe how your parents decided on your name and its significance. Perhaps you are named after a loved relative, or maybe your name represents a certain personality trait. Whatever your name is, describe why it is special to you.

A name has many implications; someone’s name may affect how others perceive them. For example, some names might evoke strength, power, and dominance, while others may give others a more laid-back impression. In your essay, consider the impact a name may have on how others see you- base your writings on research. You can also connect this to the importance of a name, as the impact/s you write about should be considered when giving someone a name. 

For a fun, engaging essay, think of a name you would like to give yourself if given a chance to change it. Explain why you chose it and what significance, if any, it has to you. If you really can’t think of any name, you can write about your name and explain why you would not change it. However, go beyond simply explaining its importance and history: what makes it better than others? Discuss this fun question for an exciting essay.

When deciding on a name for their child, parents consider many factors. Research common naming conventions, for example, naming after religious figures or relatives, and discuss each in detail. Be sure to give examples of names under each category, and explain these examples in context. If you’re still stuck, check out our general resource of essay writing topics .

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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What's Your Name?

T he authors of this essay on names have just identified themselves. Well, not quite. For the sake of full disclosure, they are willing to have it known that they have the same last name not by coincidence or consanguinity but because they are married to each other (and have been for over thirty-four years). Some will suspect that this biographical fact is responsible for the authors’ attitudes toward names and naming. The authors respectfully submit that the reverse is closer to the truth, that their attitude toward names and naming—and the many things that they have slowly come to understand about what names imply—is responsible for this paramount biographical fact. This essay is a first attempt to articulate, not least for themselves, what they have tacitly understood.

E verybody has a name. Nearly everybody who has a name knows what it is. Our name is as familiar and as close to us as our own skin; indeed, we are more frequently aware of our name than we are of the unique living body that it identifies. We write it, speak it, answer to it-often, immediately, surely, unreflectively. We generally take our name for granted. But, for these reasons, in a deeper sense we may not really know our name—what it means, why we have it, how it should be regarded and used. Paradoxically, by dint of being so familiar, the manifest mystery of our named identity may have become invisible to us. We name ourselves and others, but do we really know what we are doing when we do so?

To name is to identify. But what this means depends on the meaning of names, the meaning of identity, and the relation between the name and the thing named. Most common names, unlike personal names, are merely pointers, holding no deeper meanings for the named. A rose by any other name would surely smell as sweet. The lion were he called a lamb would still be king of beasts. And human beings, whether known as anthropoi, viri, beney adam , or menschen , remain unalterably rational, animal, and just as mortal. Like the names that Adam gave the animals, these names designate but do not determine the thing. They are merely conventional handles for grasping the beings handled, which, because they are already naturally distinct and distinctive, beg only to be recognized with names peculiarly their own. In naming beings distinctively we do little more than acknowledge the articulated and multiform character of the given world.

Not all acts of naming are so innocent. Sometimes they actually shape and form the things they name. Such creative naming is, for example, especially characteristic of the biblical God, Who, in the account of creation given in the first chapter of Genesis, names five things: light, darkness, the firmament, the dry land, and the gathered waters. As Robert Sacks observes,

We can best grasp the significance of naming by comparing the things God named with the names God gives them. Light was called day, darkness was called night. The firmament was called heaven, the dry place was called land, the water was called sea. Darkness is not light, water is not dry. What more does a name add? The Hebrew word translated “firmament” which God called heaven comes from the root meaning “to beat.” Workmen pound copper until it spreads out into a thin amorphous sheet, then form it and cut it and give it shape. Light and darkness, wet and dry, like the thinly pounded sheet of copper, seem to be an indefinite morass, each having its own quality, but each spreading out beyond the human imagination. But the day ends when night comes and the seas end at the shoreline, and the firmament becomes a whole when it becomes the sky. Without names, there would still be distinctions. There would be love and there would be hate, but bravery would shade off into foolhardiness, and we would lose the clarity of thought.

God’s naming clarifies, delimits, bounds, shapes, and makes intelligible. Like the creation itself, which proceeds by acts of speech (which are in turn always acts embodying and producing separations ), these acts of naming bring order to chaos, the discrete to the continuous, definition to the indefinite, shapely and recognizable form to the merely qualitative.

Human naming, though perforce an act of speech and hence of reason, is, however, frequently colored by human passions such as fear, pride, hope, and lust. The names Adam gave the animals may have been disinterested, but not so the names he gives to himself and to the woman when she is brought before him: “This now is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; and this shall be called woman ( ishah ) because she was taken out of man ( ish ).” Previously called (by God and by the narrator) adam , human being ( adam is not a personal name but a species name), the man now names himself “male human being,” ish , in relation to “female human being,” ishah . It is her (naked) appearance before him (“ before him” both literally and lexically, in his quoted speech) that makes him feel his maleness; the carnal remark “bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh” strikes us as the verbalization of sexual desire; the man looks upon the woman as if she were his missing half, to which he now feels powerfully drawn in a desire for fusion. At the very least, one must admit that his delight in her leads him to exaggerate the degree to which she is “his own,” more same than other, and to see her as an exteriorized portion of himself. This is not the voice of pure reason naming; and the name, born of his desire, has consequences for their relationship.

Later, a different passion will lead the man to rename the woman, this time without reference to himself. Hearing in God’s grim prophecy of the dismal human future (sorrow, sweat, toil, and death) the only good news, namely, that the woman will bear children, he grasps at this straw of hope, renaming the woman Eve ( Chavah ) because she is the mother of all living ( chai ). From Adam’s hopefulness Eve gets the first genuinely proper name given in the Bible.

What, then, is the case with our proper names, our personal names, the names we carry throughout our lives? Are they merely arbitrary and conventional handles that serve simply to designate and uniquely pick us out of a crowd? Or do our names, like those given by God, have power to shape our lives? Which passions do and should govern acts of naming: When we name, do we express desires for ourselves ( ishah ) or hopes for the future of others ( Chavah )? Is it a matter of substantial indifference what we are called, what we call ourselves, or what we call others?

As we do not (generally) name ourselves, we normally do not encounter these questions in our daily lives. True, as Americans, sharing in the English common law of names, we have the right freely to change our names, as often as we please, and not a few young people take advantage of this privilege. But it rarely even occurs to most of us that we could change our names; we accept without question what we have been given and we unthinkingly regard changing our given name as like violating a sacred order. But this seemingly “given” order of names is, in fact, the product of conscious human choice. Thus, all the questions about the meaning of naming clearly do confront us, at least implicitly, when we name our children.

The first gift of parents to a child, after the gift of life itself, is its name. Like the given life it names, the given name is a gift for a lifetime-indeed, for more than a lifetime; when we are gone, our name carved in stone and the memories it evokes will be, for nearly all of us, all that remains. Here is a gift that is not only permanent but possibly life-shaping. Here is a gift that cannot be refused; here is a gift that cannot easily be put aside; here is a gift that must be worn and that straightway not only marks but constitutes one’s identity.

On what basis does one select a gift, especially a gift of such importance? Generally speaking, one gives gifts that one thinks someone will like and appreciate, or one gives gifts that one thinks will be fitting and suitable, or one gives gifts that one thinks will be helpful and good. But in the gift of a name, even more than with other gifts to the newborn (as clothing or toys), one has no idea whatsoever which name will prove likable, which name will prove suitable, which name will be helpful to the human being who, at the time of naming, is virtually unknown and unknowable, and largely pure potentiality. The awesome mystery of individuated human life announces itself in this nameless and unknowable stranger, who must nonetheless be called by a proper name. Faced with our invincible ignorance, we parents are forced to consult our own thoughts and feelings, though, it is to be hoped, without in the least forgetting the future welfare of our child. Though we necessarily will be moved by what pleases or suits or inspires us, we do well when we remember that it is the child who must live with and live out the identity we thus confer upon him or her.

S ome of the considerations that might reasonably enter into choosing a name are obvious. Parents will want a name that, in conjunction with the family name, is euphonic, or, at least will not sound bad (the authors rejected on this basis their first-choice name for a daughter, Rebekah Kass: too many “ka”s). Parents will avoid names that could easily become the object of ridicule (for example, the authors would never have named a son Jack) or that would in other ways be likely to be burdensome to or resented by a typical child. Here parents will no doubt be guided both by their imaginations and by their own experience: They will surely remember the miseries inflicted by cruel or insensitive peers on one or another of their childhood acquaintances who had been saddled with a name too unusual, too pretentious, too quaint, too prissy, too foreign, or too stained by one of its disgraceful namesakes. Some parents, to avoid the dangers that befall those who stand out, especially among the conformist young, may well refrain from giving a name that is utterly without precedent—for it may not find in the child that gets it the strength to stand alone and apart. On the other hand, some parents, seeking to avoid the commonplace, may opt for something out of the ordinary, a name with charm or class or appealing novelty, implying thereby the wish to help the child gain distinction. In such matters, different parental choices will no doubt reflect reasonably differing parental attitudes toward the balance between standing out and standing within, between distinction and inclusion, between risk and safety.

Parents who give the matter some thought will try to choose a name that wears well not only during childhood but, even more, also during adulthood; for we bear our names much longer as adults than as children. Some names that are cute when worn in infancy or childhood seem ridiculous when attached to mature—or elderly—men and women. Connected with this matter of fitness are also considerations of likely nicknames and diminutives, both those to be given at home and those likely to be acquired at school or at play. One feels for the little fellow in postwar Shaker Heights whose pretentious, upwardly mobile Jewish parents named him Lancelot, and even more because they could not refrain from calling him by the affectionate (and standard) diminutive—which resounded through the streets when they called him in from play—”Lancelotkele.” (“Latkele,” gentle reader, is Yiddish for a small potato pancake, eaten traditionally at Hanukkah).

But these considerations are largely negative and serve mainly to prevent mistakes. They do not guide the positive choice. How then do we choose?

Whether we know it or not, the way we approach this serious, indeed awesome, task speaks volumes about our basic attitudes not only toward our children but also toward life. For we can name, just as we can live, in a spirit of self-indulgence and enjoyment, in a spirit of acquisition and appropriation, in a spirit of pride and domination, in a spirit of creativity, in a spirit of gratitude, in a spirit of blessing and dedication. Consider a few of these possibilities.

One could give the child a name that pleases us. How could that be bad? You find your child a delight, so why not celebrate this fact with a name you find delightful? The wanted child is rewarded for being wanted by getting the wanted name, and now proves doubly pleasing to the parents. Granted, no parent who loves a child would choose for it a name he or she does not like. But is this sufficient? And what if the parent has strange tastes? A teacher of our acquaintance recently taught twin girls named—we do not jest—Lem0njello and Orangejello, after Lemon and Orange Jell-O, perhaps the mother’s favorite food. The flavors of the parents are visited upon the children. But, on this principle of pleasing the parental palate, who can criticize? De gustibus non disputandum .

One could also give the child a name that pleases us because it pleases others, that is, because it is fashionable or popular. American fashions in first names change dramatically, especially for naming little girls. Rarely does one encounter anymore a young woman named Prudence, Constance, Faith, Hope, or Charity—though biblical names have come somewhat back into vogue. No one we knew—or had even heard of—through our first thirty years was named Tiffany or Chelsea. Yet the ten most popular newly given girls’ names in New York City for 1992, as reported on records of new births, were (in order of popularity): Ashley, Stephanie, Jessica, Amanda, Samantha, Jennifer, Nicole, Michelle, Melissa, and Christina. (Challenge your friends who are over fifty, or who live in the sensible Midwest, to see if they can guess even three of the top ten.)

Curiously, the popular boys’ names continue to be traditional: New York’s top ten are Michael, Christopher, Jonathan, Anthony, Joseph, Daniel, David, Kevin, Matthew, and John. What this difference in boy-girl naming fashions means, especially in an age that purports at last to take women seriously, we leave for our readers to ponder.

Frivolity, self-indulgence, and love of fashion may not be the worst of attitudes. Other parents, more serious, will be moved by pride, not least by pride in the creation of a child. This may well be the paradigmatic natural attitude of parents, perhaps especially so with first-born children. Paternal pride in siring a chip off the old block leads fathers to name their first son after themselves, only Junior. But pride in childbirth is not the prerogative only of fathers. In the first (and, therefore, in our view probably prototypical) human birth presented in Genesis, Eve proudly boasts of her creative power in the birth of Cain: “And she conceived and bore Cain ( kayin ), saying, ‘I have gotten ( kaniti ) a man [equally] with the Lord.’” (Most English translations have Eve say, piously, “with the help of the Lord,” but this is an interpolation. The context, in our view, favors this meaning: “God created a man, and now so have I.”) And, at first glance, why should she not be proud? She conceived, she carried, she labored, and she delivered, in short, she created a new life out of her own substance, a new life that is her own flesh and blood. Her pride in her creativity and “ own -ership” of her son is celebrated in the name she gives him: kayin , from a root kanah , meaning to possess , perhaps also related to a root koneh , meaning to shape or make or create.

Cain, the pride of his mother’s bearing, bears the name of his mother’s pride, and tragically lives out the meaning of the name his mother gave him, the meaning, unbeknownst to her, of her tacit wish for him. He becomes a proud farmer, the sort of man who lays possessive claim to a portion of the earth, proud of his ability to bring forth fruit from the ground. He becomes a man who, his pride wounded, angrily kills his brother to reassert his place as number one. (When Eve, almost as an afterthought, had borne “his brother Abel,” there had been no celebration or boasting; she gave to him, unwittingly but prophetically, a name that means “breath that vanishes.”)

Eve, it seems, learns the folly of her naming ways. Chastened by the death of Abel and left bereft by the banishment of Cain, Eve renames her third son in a different, more humble, and grateful spirit: “And she called his name Seth , ‘for God hath appointed [ shath ] me another seed in place of Abel, whom Cain slew.’” (Emphasis added.) With death and the need for replacement now manifest before her, Eve this time enters upon the act of naming and parenthood in full awareness of the human condition, in full awareness that children are not human creations, in full self-consciousness of what it means to give a name (the word “name” and the phrase “called his name” were not used in the report of the births of Cain and Abel).

Despite their differences, naming as self-gratification, naming as appropriation, naming as expressing pride, and naming as creativity have this in common: They all take their meaning from and refer back to the activities of the parents. They do not centrally consider the independent being of the child, or the meaning of the child understood as one who must someday stand forth as the parents’ replacement. Considerations such as these at least tacitly inform the activity of naming for those parents who seek by means of the name to express, in full seriousness, their best hopes and wishes for the child. Such parents will choose a name that imparts personal or human meaning. They may stress continuity of family line, by naming a son for the father, a daughter for a grandmother. They may memorialize some worthy friend or ancestor, whose fine qualities they hope to see replicated in the child. They may name after prophets or saints or other historical or literary figures, in the hope of promoting emulation or at least admiration through namesake identification. In these various ways, parents identify their children not with themselves but with what they look up to and respect. In such namings, parents, at the very least, express their fondest hopes-blessing, as it were, their children through names of blessed memory or elevated standing. At best, they thereby dedicate themselves to the work of making good the promise conveyed in the good name thus bestowed.

The solemnity of such naming, and its meaning as dedication, is, of course, evident when names are given within religious ceremonies. At a baptism, the newborn child is symbolically purified, sanctified, and received by name into the Christian community, obtaining his or her name in an act of christening or baptizing. The child is reborn by being named in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, an implicit promise by the parents to rear the child in the ways of the Lord. Among its other intentions, baptism denies the parents’ natural tendency to think of the child as property or as an object of pride and power. During the ceremony, the parents ritually hand the child over to the minister or to godparents, representatives of the church and community, literally enacting the meaning of naming as dedication. The name given is understood to be eternal, inscribed in the Book of Life.

At a brith milah , the Jewish act of ritual circumcision, male children on the eighth day of life enter into the covenant between God and the seed of Abraham, obtaining at this time their given Hebrew name (here, too, the boy is handed over to the godfather for the ceremony); daughters are publicly named in the synagogue soon after birth. Often, the meaning of the name and the reasons for its choice are publicly discussed as the name is given. The prayer for both Jewish sons and daughters that accompanies their naming is for a life that embraces Torah (learning and observance), Chuppah (marriage and family), and Maasim Tovim (good deeds). Names given in such contexts are, at least implicitly, understood to be sanctifications and dedications.

It is, of course, not possible to gauge the spirit of the act of naming simply from the name given. The name of a beloved forebear may be perpetuated not because of what made him lovable but, say, because of benefits received by the namer or as a result of family expectation or as an expression of mere sentimentality. In a family we know, for example, a man named his son after his deceased father, a man of unrivaled goodness and gentleness, admired and loved by everyone who knew him, without exception or qualification. As it happens, the boy not only carries the grandfather’s name; because he is and will be the only male child of his generation, the entire family name resides now with him. But such thoughts are alien to, even resisted by, his father, who believes that the past must be happily buried. No attempt has been made to teach the son anything about the grandfather-about his life, his character, his beliefs. Not before the boy was thirteen did he get to see a photograph of the man for whom he was named, and then only by accident in another relative’s house. The boy’s father, a radical, preaches and encourages distrust of tradition and authority, and now finds the teenage chicken coming home to roost. Here we have the name, ringing hollow, without a grain of the legacy. The name, like the grandfather, was liked, not revered or even properly appreciated. The child, not surprisingly, has grasped and inherited the paternal principle: “The past is dead, follow your likes.” Already separating himself from his own past, he sets out to create his own identity, making himself into whatever he wishes.

Parents should, however, be mindful of the gap between hope and fact, between promise and realization. Especially when the dream implicit in the name is great, there is a danger that the name will be to the child more a burden than an inspiration. On this ground, a prospective name for our son (never born), favored by one of us, Abraham Lincoln, was vetoed by the more sensible spouse. Nature may not be cooperative, native gifts may be missing, serious illness or accident may deform and limit, and, even in the most propitious circumstances, parental plans and aspirations—even modest ones—often go unrealized, not least because well-meaning and devoted parents sometimes fail to recognize sufficiently the radical individuality of each child. For this reason, one names best when one names not only with dedication but also with modesty and humility, mindful of the child’s separate identity and ultimate independence. The identity given by means of the given name de facto recognizes and celebrates the uniqueness of the life its bearer will live.

Naming a child thus anticipates exactly the central difficulty of child-rearing altogether: how to communicate unconditional love for the child-just-as-he-now-is, at the same time as one is doing all in one’s power to encourage and to help him to become better (which is to say, more truly lovable). A name, likable here and now but also bearing hope and promise, fits the good-enough-but-potentially-much-better kind of being that is the human child (indeed, is the human being throughout life). Defining the child now but also for later, the given but independent name also looks forward to the time when—thanks to good rearing—he will be able to write his own named account in the Book of Life.

The given name, given seriously, thus provides identity and individuality but within family and community; recognizes continuity with lives of the past but bears hopes and promises for the new life in the future; embodies general aspiration but acknowledges individual distinction; reflects both present affection and desire for future improvement; acknowledges at least tacitly that one’s child is to be one’s replacement; celebrates the joyous wonder of the renewal of human possibility while accepting the awesome responsibility for helping that possibility to be realized; and pays homage to the mysterious source of human life and human individuality.

In all these ways, the naming of a child is, in fact, an emblem of the entire parent-child relation, in both its human generality and its radical particularity. Human children are born naked and nameless, like the animals; they become humanized only through rearing, the work not of nature but of acts of speech and symbolic deed, including praise and blame, reward and punishment, custom, habituation, and education. They become humanized, in the first instance, at the hands of parents, who, among other duties, try steadily to teach children how to call all things by their proper names and to show them how to acquire a good name for themselves.

M ention of calling things by their proper names prompts a digression on the proper usage of proper names, itself a central issue of propriety. In fact, it was observations on the prevalent use and misuse of given or first names that, long ago, aroused our interest in the subject of naming in the first place.

As amateur observers of the American social scene, we are struck by how much more of our public social life is nowadays conducted on a first-name basis. The open-faced waiter in the yuppie restaurant begins not with, “Good evening. Are you ready to order?” but with, “Hi, I’m Sherman. I’m your server this evening, and I’d like to tell you about our specials.” The gynecologist and all members of his staff (including the barely post-adolescent receptionist) call all the patients by their first names, even on first encounter. In the home for the aged, venerable ladies and gentlemen are uniformly called Sadie or Annie, Herman or Mike, by people who will never know a tenth of what some of the elderly have forgotten. Small children are not taught to call uncles and aunts Uncle Leon and Aunt Amy, but plain Leon and Amy. Children of all ages are generally allowed to call all grown-up guests in the home by their first names, even on first meeting. At social mixers, the typical tag is for first names only: “Hello, My Name is Steffie.” Total strangers, soliciting for stock brokerages or the local police museum, call during dinner oozing familiarity, asking to speak to Leon or Amy (not knowing that they have thus completely blown their slim chance of success). Students introduce themselves to one another, to their teachers, or to the parents of their friends by first names only. Even some college professors and many members of the clergy prefer to be called by their first names, even when in class or in church and synagogue.

The motives for and reasons behind such increased familiarity are numerous and sometimes complex, and surely vary from case to case. A policy favoring forward but easy amiability, thought useful for putting everyone in a good mood and making them feel at home, is no doubt part of the waiter’s conduct; but there is probably also calculation that guests will be more inclined to leave a larger tip for a named “acquaintance” than for a merely anonymous servant. The gynecologist may believe he is creating a homey atmosphere that will overcome his patient’s anxieties and embarrassments; but he is culpably unaware that calling vulnerable strangers by their first names is patronizing, condescending, and unprofessional, that it contributes further to the indignity of being a patient, that most women receiving pelvic examinations will not be made more comfortable by a physician who makes himself improperly familiar, and that the patient’s unavoidable exposure and shame are precisely what demands that every effort should be made to uphold the patient’s dignity. Informality is thought to be a boon to equality and fellow-feeling; titles like Uncle and Aunt, or even Mr. or Ms., are distancing and hierarchical. They get in the way of easy sociability, made possible when everybody, regardless of age or station, is equally just plain Bill.

The change in usage, whatever one thinks of it, is symptomatic of a general breakdown of the boundaries between public and private life, between formal and familiar, between grown-up and childish, between high and low, refined and vulgar, sacred and profane. This leveling of boundaries is itself entirely American, which is to say, it is the result of the relentless march of the democratic spirit, under the twin banners of equality and individualism. But there is something novel and especially revealing—and also especially worrisome—in the self-identification of young students away from home at college.

When we were in college—at the University of Chicago in the 1950s and early 1960s—our teachers called us by our last names, usually prefaced by Mr. or Miss; in class, we were taught to refer to our peers—even our friends—in the same formal way. This civil convention, by the way, applied equally to the faculty: No one was Professor or Doctor, everyone was Mr. or Mrs. or Miss. We did not then fully appreciate the profound good sense of these customs, but we liked them nonetheless. No longer patronized as we had been by our teachers in high school, we were being treated respectfully, like grown-ups; indeed, in name (at least) we were superficially the equals of our instructors. This was flattering, this was encouraging; this, accordingly, induced emulation and a higher level of speech and conduct in the classroom.

But the purpose of this formal nominal equality was not, in fact, to flatter the students but to mirror and encourage our shared human work. Though we were encouraged to think and speak for ourselves, speech was not personalized and the person of the speaker was not authoritative; what the teacher said, and what we ourselves said, was given weight not because of the rank of the one who said it-for we were nominally of the same rank—but only because of its truthfulness or reasonableness. Shared logos, and the joint effort to understand, made the classroom a community of fellow-learners, not just an aggregate of sometimes overlapping, sometimes clashing personal interests. Objections and criticisms of one another were muted and civil: The casual language of the street, “Leon, you dolt,” was replaced by, “Mr. Kass, what is your evidence?” Familiarity, not to speak of intimacy, between teacher and student (or even between student and student) was neither assumed nor promised; like all real friendships, it had to be earned.

But though friendships with teachers occasionally developed, our eye was not on such personal matters. We were courting the greater self-respect that comes with adult accomplishment. To hear ourselves called after the manner of our parents (in the case of males, exactly as our fathers were called) dimly reminded us not only who we were and where we came from but also that we were stepping forward to prepare to take our parents’ place.

Now, teachers at the University of Chicago, we still continue these practices; we are known as Mrs. Kass and Mr. Kass, we call our male students Mr. and our female students Miss, Mrs., or Ms. (as they wish), and we insist that the students in class refer to one another in the same way. Our students do not protest, nearly all acquire the habit, and some have even told us how much they appreciate the contribution such civility makes to the atmosphere of learning.

But we are a vanishing breed. And we have noticed in recent years, outside of classes, a marked decline in student use of last names. If we attend a dinner in the dorms, if unfamiliar students come to office hours, if we overhear them introducing themselves to one another, we hear them give only their first names: “Hello, I’m Susie.” To be sure, this is friendliness, this is informality, this is individuality. But this is also, we believe, in many cases, a tacit but quite definite denial of their origins, of their roots in families. “Hello, I’m Susie” implicitly means “I am Susie, short for sui generis .” Changing usages regarding last names reflect changing mores regarding the meaning of last names, which in turn reflect—and may also contribute to—the changing structure of marriage and family life.

L ast names or family names are of relatively recent origin in the West, becoming customary in England, for example, only toward the end of the sixteenth century. (In China, by contrast, an emperor already in 2852 b.c. decreed the universal adoption of hereditary family names.) Prior to that time, the given name, received usually at baptism, was the name of the person. To distinguish among persons who shared the same Christian name, surnames would be added, over and above the true name ( sur , from super , “over” or “above”). Surnames had no standard meaning; they could be based on the father’s name (John’s son, O’Brien) or on one’s occupation (Weaver or Hunter), place of residence (Bristol, Lyons, At-Water), or an epithet capturing some striking personal trait or achievement (Little, Swift, Arm-Strong).

Only gradually, starting in the early medieval period, were many of these surnames turned into hereditary family names, beginning apparently in aristocratic families and in the big cities. A big impetus toward hereditary family names came after the Council of Trent (1563) decreed that every Catholic parish keep complete registers of baptisms, including the names of the parents and grandparents along with the name of the child. When Protestant parishes soon followed suit, this practice made nearly universal the spread and use of family names. It was not law but widespread similar custom which had it that a woman upon marriage would take the last name of her husband and that their children would then automatically bear the family name.

Despite many variations from country to country—about the order of family and given names, about middle names, about the incorporation of maiden names into a woman’s married name, etc.—it is now nearly universally the case that one’s personal name includes (at least) one’s given or individual name and one’s family name. The former, a matter of parental choice, marks one’s individuated identity within the larger family and signifies one’s path toward one’s own unique life trajectory; the latter, a matter of heritable custom, gives one a familial identity in relation to the larger social world and expresses one’s ties to and the influences of a shared ancestral past. Human individuation is contextualized within families, both families of origin and families of perpetuation. Last names are ever-present reminders that we were begotten and that we belong, and, later, that we belong in order to beget.

That a family name is centrally a sign of our connected and dignified humanity we see when such names are withheld—for example, in the practice of naming slaves in the ante-bellum South. Slaves were given only first names; if they had to receive a surname to distinguish one from another, it was John’s boy , never John’s son . The first name individuates, but separated from a last name, it is demeaning, even meaningless. By making one everywhere familiar, the practice of using only first names makes impossible both genuine public and genuine private life; as the slaveholders understood perfectly, it makes the childish station permanent.

Well before there were surnames as family names, the ties of blood and lineage were given expression in the form of patronymics. In their classical or heroic form, the patronym was even more important than the given name, with the son being under lifelong obligation to make himself worthy of his father and thus to earn, as it were, the title to his own name.

Homer, in beginning the Iliad , asks the goddess to sing the wrath of Peleus’ son Achilleus, who is first of interest precisely because he is the son of Peleus, himself the son of Aiakos, himself the son of Zeus. (On his mother’s side, Achilleus is even closer to the immortals; the goddess Thetis is his mother.) With lesser parents, in Homer’s world of heroes, Achilleus would have been a nonentity, one from whom nothing much would be expected. But given his pedigree, he is under strenuous obligation to live up to his name, thereby winning great glory also for his father. When Hektor, bouncing his infant son Astyanax, wishes for him that he will become an even greater warrior than his father, this wish must be heard as narcissistic: The son’s greatness will pile further glory upon his sire. Homer makes us feel immediately the tragic character of such paternal wishes for one’s sons; the reader knows that young Astyanax’s literal future is right here being sacrificed for his father’s present thirst for glory, as Hektor refuses his wife Andromache’s plea, in the name of family, not to return to the fighting. In these heroic cultures, the past casts a long shadow over the present and future; and most men die failing to match the recounted successes of illustrious ancestors. The patronym (or its equivalent family name), and through it the past, continued to exercise hegemony, albeit in somewhat muted form, in European aristocratic societies even into the present century.

We liberal democrats have mercifully escaped from this state of affairs. Our American society and its founding thought begin from the radical equality of each individual, including his inalienable right to practice happiness as he himself defines it. What counts for us is not birth or station, but one’s own accomplishments, not who one’s parents were but what one has made (and proposes to make) of oneself. Yet bourgeois democratic family life, with its naming practices, has preserved us, at least until recently, from the rootlessness and isolation to which such individuality might lead. The conventional identity of given name plus inherited family name, in the bourgeois family, represented a sensible mean between the heroic and the anonymous, between the aristocratic tyranny of the past (Peleus’ son) and the servile because rootless denial of a dignified adult future (Jim NoName).

Times have changed. Both as a culture and as individuals, we today care even less about where we come from, and also less and less about where we are going, but more and more only about the here and now. The ways of the fathers and mothers are not our ways. The ways of our children are unimaginable. Full individualists, and proud of it, we increasingly look solely to ourselves, as Tocqueville remarked over 150 years ago, as the sole source and reason for things. In the present generation, such individualistic thinking is showing its power against the institution of the family and customs of the family name.

Some time ago, the New York Times (January 21, 1993) featured an article by Janice L. Kaplan entitled “Creativity Is Often the Name of This Family Game.” In the article, Ms. Kaplan cites numerous examples of novel naming practices to illustrate her thesis that “for more and more of today’s parents, choosing a child’s last name is a matter of personal decision, a chance to be creative, even an opportunity to make a statement.” A few of her examples provide the flavor of them all.

When Elyse Goldstein, a rabbi, married Baruch Browns, a calligrapher and school administrator, they discussed what name they would “pass on” to their offspring. Both “absolutely wanted a family name” but one different from their own respective birth names, “a creative alternative to passing on only the father’s surname.” The solution: “They took the gold from Goldstein, the brown from Browns, mixed them together and created Sienna, the legal last name of their children.” As Mr. Browns explained, “Ocher, or those other muddy yellow colors, didn’t seem like nice names.”

Dean Skylar and Chris Ledbetter faced a similar dilemma, but not until the birth of their son. Opposed to “the whole patriarchal tradition,” they too wanted a new name for the child, different from their own names but one that would “symbolize [their] relationship.” Being residents of the state of Florida, which required parents to pass on the father’s surname, it took a court battle to legitimize their choice, but they eventually prevailed: they combined Ledbetter and Skylar to form Skybetter, the name of their two children, now ages ten and five. “All of our names are in the phone book,” said Ms. Ledbetter. “That handles most any problem that comes up.”

Ms. Van Horn, a commercial photographer and clinical hypnotherapist, and Ms. Hershey, owner of a design and marketing concern, were the first lesbians in Los Angeles County to be granted joint custody of a child. They gave their adopted son both their last names: hence, Ryan Christopher Hershey-Van Horn. As Ms. Van Horn explained, “We’re both his parents. We’re both women with careers. And we both have definite identities. It’s important that Christopher be real clear about his identity as well.”

Whether they make up an entirely new name for their children (Sienna), or creatively combine their names (Skybetter), or hyphenate their names (Hershey-Van Horn), all these parents reveal the same fundamental belief: A child’s last name is a matter of free, parental choice, no less than is its first name. Having liberated themselves from the “patriarchal tradition” of women giving up their names—none of the women interviewed took the man’s last name—all of these parents feel perfectly free to “liberate” their children as well. For what they have creatively managed to “pass on” is a name with no past; and the so-called “family” name is in no case the name of the entire family, but of the children only. The children are thus, already from birth, nominally (in the literal sense of the word) emancipated from all links to their parents, nominally identified as being unrelated to either parent, let alone to a married couple whose common name would symbolize the couple’s union in a new estate and its potential to be a unified family with offspring. These children have, in fact, been given two first names.

Ms. Kaplan observes that “sometimes, say experts and the children involved, the parents’ choices, if not clearly explained , can result in confusion and identity problems.” But the worries that are mentioned are superficial: children who can’t fit their names on a page or on SAT forms, children who can’t spell their last names, children at risk of teasing or ridicule by peers. For the “experts,” who want only that the child “develop an appropriate and healthy identity,” identity is entirely a subjective matter, but somehow one that yields to “rational understanding”; if the origin of the surname is “clearly explained” to the child (to be sure, “more than once”), there need be no confusion of identity.

But identity is not just a state of mind. All the explanations in the world cannot alter what the child’s name loudly declares: My parents and I belong to different families. Because this is how the child is named and known, his lack of a true family name is now central to his identity, whatever he may feel about it. That these creative parents sometimes justify their practice by pointing out that children of divorced and remarried parents or children of “live-in relationships” also don’t share the parental name, only proves the point: Taking broken or unmarried homes as a suitable nominal norm, and insisting on their own radically individuated identity, they start their children off in life with a broken family identity. It is almost as if they are preparing their children not only for the liberated life they have chosen for themselves, but also for the family fragmentation that now takes its toll of so many of America’s children.

These “creative” parents are, we suspect, still a very small minority. Far more common are families in which the children carry the name of the father, even though the mother has kept her maiden name. Here, too, the confusion of identity is obvious: it is not nominally clear who belongs to whom. A friend of ours, a mother of a highly popular first-grader, recently attended her first PTA meeting. Eager to meet the parents of the many frequent visitors to her home, she carefully scanned the name tags of all the people in the room. But on that night the room happened to be full of mothers only, none of whom bore the same last name as her child. Today, it is a wise child who knows its mother.

What’s wrong with all of this? Leaving aside, for now, the rightness or wrongness of the old so-called patriarchal conventions whereby the wife necessarily takes and the children automatically acquire the husband’s name, one can advance powerful arguments why, for reasons of truth and identity, a child’s family name should be the same as that of both his parents. The common name identifies the child securely within its nest of origin and rearing, and symbolically points to the ties of parental affection and responsibility that are needed for its healthy growth and well-being. Given that the mother-child bond is the (most) natural foundation of all familial attachments and parental care, it seems especially absurd that mothers should be willing not to have the same last name as their children-unless, of course, motherhood is understood to be nothing more than a surrogate “social womb,” unconnected with nature, the “mother” looking after the children simply as a job or as a form of self -fulfillment.

Responsibility for the child, who did not himself ask to be born, is accepted and announced by family naming: the child, freely individuated from birth (as marked in his given name), also belongs necessarily from birth to his parents, not as a possession to be used but as a precious life to be nurtured. Couples may choose whether to have a child, but they may not morally choose to deny familial responsibility for his care. A shared and transmittable family name, given and accepted rather than invented or chosen, stands perfectly for this shared and transmittable moral reality.

The common name of parent-and-child stands not only for parental responsibilities, but also for the child’s security, filial regard, family loyalty, gratitude, and personal pride. We children are not sui generis , neither self-made nor self-reared; we begin as dependents, dependent upon the unmerited attention and care lavished on us by our parents. To carry the family name is a constant reminder of what we owe and to whom—and of the fact that what we owe can never be repaid (except, indirectly, by doing the same for our own children). Thus, it is, at least symbolically, a special kind of blindness—not to say ingratitude—that our college students hold themselves familially innominate (“Just Susie”) precisely when Mom and Dad are shelling out $20,000 a year to enable them to become educated and independent.

But this backward-looking identification with our family of origin cannot be the whole story. On the contrary, life is forward-going and regenerative; in most cases, we children must leave our fathers and mothers and cleave to our spouses, in order to do as our fathers and mothers did before. The given family of origin gives way (not wholly but in very large part) to the chosen family of perpetuation, prepared for and legally sanctioned by the act of marriage. How should this new estate and new identity be reflected in our names? When we marry what surname or surnames shall we adopt?

Whether we like it or not, choosing surnames at marriage is in today’s America almost as much a matter of choice as the giving of first names at childbirth, a reflection (and perhaps also a cause) of novel conceptions of marriage, an institution the meaning of which is itself increasingly regarded as a matter of choice. The traditional bourgeois way—the husband gives and the wife accepts the husband’s family name—customary for at least four hundred years in the English-speaking world, is no longer secure as customary; “because that’s the way we’ve always done it” is, for young American ears, a losing reason. Besides, the true reasons for the old custom having been forgotten, the practitioners of the custom are impotent to defend it against charges of “patriarchy,” “male hegemonism,” “sexism,” and the like. Thus, with no certain cultural guidance, the present generation (in fact, each couple independently) is being allowed—or should we say compelled, willy-nilly?—to think this through for itself.

We, the authors, accept the challenge, as a thought experiment, imagining ourselves as having to do it over again, but with the benefit of our now longer views of marriage and of life, and on the following additional condition: to think not on the basis of what pleases us , but on the basis of what we believe is appropriate to the meaning of marriage and hence, in principle, universalizable.

If marriage is, as we believe, a new estate, in fact changing the identities of both partners, there is good reason to have this changed identity reflected in some change of surname, one that reflects and announces this fact. If marriage, though entered into voluntarily, is in its inner meaning more than a contract between interested parties but rather a union made in expectation of permanence and a union open (as no simple contract of individuals can be) to the possibility of procreation, there is good reason to have the commitment to lifelong union reflected and announced in a common name that symbolizes and celebrates its special meaning.

Whether they intend it or not, individuals who individualistically keep their original names when entering a marriage are symbolically holding themselves back from the full meaning of the union. Fearing “loss of identity” in change of name, they implicitly deny that to live now toward and for one’s beloved, as soul mate, is rather to gain a new identity, a new meaning of living a life, one toward which eros itself has pointed us. Often failing to anticipate the future likelihood of having their own children, and, more generally, unable or unwilling to see the institution of marriage as directed toward or even connected with its central generational raison d’etre, they create in advance a confused identity for their unborn children.

The irony is that the clear personal identity to which they selfishly cling (in tacit denial of their new social identity) is in fact an identity they possess only because their parents were willing and able to create that singular family identity for them. We are, of course, aware that massive numbers of our youth stem from parents who divorce or remarry, and that the insecurity of identity already reflected in their having different names from their birth parents may lead them to cling tenaciously to their very own surnames, lest they lose the little, painfully acquired identity they have left; yet if they truly understood their plight, they would be eager to try to prevent such misfortunes from befalling their own children, and would symbolically identify themselves in advance as their (unborn) children’s lifelong parents.

It is ironic that the same young people who, in their social arrangements, live only on a first name basis, forgetful at least symbolically of where they come from, should at the time of forward-looking marriage turn backward to cling to the name of their family of origin. Faced with the “threat” of “losing themselves” in marriage, they reassert themselves as independent selves, now claiming and treating the original surname as if it were—just like their given first name—a chosen mark of their autonomy and individuality.

The human family, unlike some animal families, is exogamous, not incestuous; it is exogamous not by nature but by the wisest of customs. The near-universal taboo against incest embodies the insight that family means a forward-looking series of generations rather than an inward-turning merging and togetherness. It keeps lineage clear—in order, among other reasons, to distinguish spouses from progeny in the service of tranquil relations, clear identity, and sound rearing—above all, to accomplish the family’s primary human work of perpetuation and cultural transmission. The legal sanctification and support of marriage, a further expression of the insights embedded in the incest taboo, makes sense only on this view of family; were sex not generative and families not generational, no one would much care with whom one wished to merge.

Thus, when entering a marriage, the partners are willy-nilly bravely stepping forward, unprotected by the family of origin, into the full meaning of human adulthood: They are saying good-bye to father and mother and cleaving to their spouse. They are, tacitly, accepting the death of their parents, and even more, their own mortality, as they embark on the road to the next generation. They express not only their love of one another but also their readiness to discover, by repeating the practice, how their own family identity and nurtured humanity was the product of deliberate human choice that affirmed and elevated the natural necessity of renewal. A common name deliberately taken at the time of marriage—like the family of perpetuation that the marriage anticipates and establishes—affirms the special union of natural necessity and human choice which the exogamous family itself embodies.

This is, perhaps, an appropriate place to observe that we are well aware that family or social identity is not the whole of our identity, that professional or “career” identity is both psychically and socially important (as are civic and religious identity). The loving-and-generative aspects of our nature are far from being the whole human story. Yet the familial is foundational, and it cannot without grave danger be subordinated or assimilated to the professional. Our arguments for a common social name for the married couple is, however, perfectly compatible with having one partner or the other-or both-keeping a distinct professional name. Some have argued that in today’s world of rampant mobility and weakened family ties, and with both husband and wife in the work place, much is lost and little is gained if professional identity is submerged in a common family name. But precisely to affirm and protect the precious realm of private life from the distorting intrusion of public or purely economic preoccupations, a common social name makes eminent sense-one might say especially under present conditions.

The argument advanced so far does not, of course, yet reach to the customary pattern of the bride taking the groom’s name. If anything, it might even call into question the wisdom of allowing either partner to keep the surname of origin. To provide the same and new last name for the married couple, a name that proclaims their social unity and that will immediately confer social identity to their children, they could devise a hyphenated compound that both partners then adopt or they could jointly invent a totally new surname that leaves no trace of either family of origin. But these alternatives are both defective. The first is simply impractical beyond one or at most two generations; because of the exponential growth of life, one would have an exponential increase in names-to-be-hyphenated-in-new-marriages-and-in-newer-marriages-and-so-on-and-on-ad-infinitum. The structure of life itself makes impossible the universalizing of one’s maxim to add-and-hyphenate.

The second alternative, in our view, too starkly severs the new social ties from the familial past (quite apart from what it means to the public individual identities of each of the partners) and to still living and remembered grandparents. It would be to further accentuate the unraveling of intergenerational connections, symbolizing instead each little family’s atomistic belief in its ability to go it alone. In contrast, a family name that ties the new family of perpetuation to one old family of origin reflects more faithfully the truth about family as a series of generations and the moral and psychological meaning of lineage and attachment.

This leaves only the hard question: Shall it be his family name or hers? A little reflection will show why, as a general rule, it should be his. Although we know from modern biology the equal contributions both parents make to the genetic identity of a child, it is still true to say that the mother is the “more natural” parent, that is, the parent by birth . A woman can give up a child for adoption or, thanks to modern reproductive technologies, can even bear a child not genetically her own. But there is no way to deny out of whose body the new life sprung, whose substance it fed on, who labored to produce it, who wondrously bore it forth. The father’s role in all this is minuscule and invisible; in contrast to the mother, there is no naturally manifest way to demonstrate his responsibility.

The father is thus a parent more by choice and agreement than by nature (and not only because he cannot know with absolute certainty that the woman’s child is indeed his own). One can thus explain the giving of the paternal surname in the following way: the father symbolically announces “his choice” that the child is his, fully and freely accepting responsibility for its conception and, more importantly, for its protection and support, and answering in advance the question which only wise children are said to be able to answer correctly: Who’s my Dad?

The husband who gives his name to his bride in marriage is thus not just keeping his own; he is owning up to what it means to have been given a family and a family name by his own father—he is living out his destiny to be a father by saying yes to it in advance. And the wife does not so much surrender her name as she accepts the gift of his, given and received as a pledge of (among other things) loyal and responsible fatherhood for her children. A woman who refuses this gift is, whether she knows it or not, tacitly refusing the promised devotion or, worse, expressing her suspicions about her groom’s trustworthiness as a husband and prospective father.

Patrilineal surnames are, in truth, less a sign of paternal prerogative than of paternal duty and professed commitment, reinforced psychologically by gratifying the father’s vanity in the perpetuation of his name and by offering this nominal incentive to do his duty both to mother and child. Such human speech and naming enables the father explicitly to choose to become the parent-by-choice that he, more than the mother, must necessarily be.

Fathers who will not own up to their paternity, who will not “legitimize” their offspring, and who will not name themselves responsible for child-rearing by giving their children their name are, paradoxically, not real fathers at all, and their wives and especially their children suffer. The former stigmatization of bastardy was, in fact, meant to protect women and children from such irresponsible behavior of self-indulgent men (behavior probably naturally rooted in mammalian male psychosexual tendencies), men who would take their sexual pleasures and walk away from their consequences. The removal of the stigma, prompted by a humane concern not to penalize innocent children by calling them “illegitimate,” has, paradoxically but absolutely predictably, contributed mightily to an increase in such fatherless children.

The advantage a woman and her children gain from the commitment of the man to take responsibility and to stay the course—the commitment implied in his embracing the woman and her prospective children with his family name, now newly understood—is by itself sufficient reason why it is in a woman’s interest as a married-woman-and-mother-to-be to readily take the bridegroom’s name.

But there is a deeper reason why this makes sense. The change of the woman’s name, from family of origin to family of perpetuation, is the perfect emblem for the desired exogamy of human sexuality and generation. The woman in marriage not only expresses her humanity in love (as does the man); she also embraces the meaning of marriage by accepting the meaning of her womanly nature as generative. In shedding the name of her family of origin, she tacitly affirms that children of her womb can be legitimated only exogamously. Her children will not bear the same name as—will not “belong to”—her father; moreover, her new name allows also her father to recognize formally the mature woman his daughter has become. Whereas the man needs convention to make up—by expansion—for his natural deficiency, the woman needs convention to humanize—by restriction—the result of her natural prowess. By anticipating necessity and by thus choosing to accept the gift of her husband’s name, the woman affirms the meaning of her own humanity by saying yes to customizing her given nature.

A lmost none of what they now believe they understand about the meanings and uses of names did the authors know when, following custom, they first joined their lives together under the bridegroom’s family name. They had, at best, only tacit and partial knowledge when they deliberately gave their children biblical names. Had they been left, in their youth, to invent their own practices of naming, it is doubtful that they would have gotten it right. In place of their own knowledge, they were guided by the blessed example of the strong, enduring, and admirable marriages and home-life of their parents, itself sustained by teachings silently conveyed through custom and ritual. Wisdom in these matters, for individual thinkers, comes slowly if at all. But custom, once wisely established, more than makes up for our deficiencies. It makes possible the full flourishing of our humanity.

William Butler Yeats said it best, in “A Prayer for My Daughter”:

And may her bridegroom bring her to a house Where all’s accustomed, ceremonious; For arrogance and hatred are the wares Peddled in the thoroughfares. How but in custom and in ceremony Are innocence and beauty born? Ceremony’s a name for the rich horn, And custom for the spreading laurel tree.

The authors are, respectively, Senior Lecturer in the Humanities Collegiate Division and Addie Clark Harding Professor in the College and the Committee on Social Thought, The University of Chicago. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at a meeting on the Ethics of Everyday Life, sponsored by the Institute on Religion and Public Life and supported by the Lilly Endowment. The authors wish to thank their colleagues for helpful criticisms and suggestions.

Articles by Amy A. Kass

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Picture Prompts

The Story of Your Name

By Katherine Schulten

• March 14, 2019

What is your name, and how did you get it?

Have you ever altered or changed your name for any reason? Has anyone else? For instance, maybe you go by a nickname more often than the name on your birth certificate. Which of the names you are called do you like best? Why?

If you are an immigrant, is your name one that is easily understood, pronounced and spelled in the place you live now? If not, what has that been like for you?

Tell us in the comments, then read a related essay from the Opinion section to learn more.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan .

What is an Essay?

10 May, 2020

11 minutes read

Author:  Tomas White

Well, beyond a jumble of words usually around 2,000 words or so - what is an essay, exactly? Whether you’re taking English, sociology, history, biology, art, or a speech class, it’s likely you’ll have to write an essay or two. So how is an essay different than a research paper or a review? Let’s find out!

Defining the Term – What is an Essay?

The essay is a written piece that is designed to present an idea, propose an argument, express the emotion or initiate debate. It is a tool that is used to present writer’s ideas in a non-fictional way. Multiple applications of this type of writing go way beyond, providing political manifestos and art criticism as well as personal observations and reflections of the author.

An essay can be as short as 500 words, it can also be 5000 words or more.  However, most essays fall somewhere around 1000 to 3000 words ; this word range provides the writer enough space to thoroughly develop an argument and work to convince the reader of the author’s perspective regarding a particular issue.  The topics of essays are boundless: they can range from the best form of government to the benefits of eating peppermint leaves daily. As a professional provider of custom writing, our service has helped thousands of customers to turn in essays in various forms and disciplines.

Origins of the Essay

Over the course of more than six centuries essays were used to question assumptions, argue trivial opinions and to initiate global discussions. Let’s have a closer look into historical progress and various applications of this literary phenomenon to find out exactly what it is.

Today’s modern word “essay” can trace its roots back to the French “essayer” which translates closely to mean “to attempt” .  This is an apt name for this writing form because the essay’s ultimate purpose is to attempt to convince the audience of something.  An essay’s topic can range broadly and include everything from the best of Shakespeare’s plays to the joys of April.

The essay comes in many shapes and sizes; it can focus on a personal experience or a purely academic exploration of a topic.  Essays are classified as a subjective writing form because while they include expository elements, they can rely on personal narratives to support the writer’s viewpoint.  The essay genre includes a diverse array of academic writings ranging from literary criticism to meditations on the natural world.  Most typically, the essay exists as a shorter writing form; essays are rarely the length of a novel.  However, several historic examples, such as John Locke’s seminal work “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” just shows that a well-organized essay can be as long as a novel.

The Essay in Literature

The essay enjoys a long and renowned history in literature.  They first began gaining in popularity in the early 16 th century, and their popularity has continued today both with original writers and ghost writers.  Many readers prefer this short form in which the writer seems to speak directly to the reader, presenting a particular claim and working to defend it through a variety of means.  Not sure if you’ve ever read a great essay? You wouldn’t believe how many pieces of literature are actually nothing less than essays, or evolved into more complex structures from the essay. Check out this list of literary favorites:

• The Book of My Lives by Aleksandar Hemon
• Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
• Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag
• High-Tide in Tucson: Essays from Now and Never by Barbara Kingsolver
• Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
• Naked by David Sedaris
• Walden; or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau

Pretty much as long as writers have had something to say, they’ve created essays to communicate their viewpoint on pretty much any topic you can think of!

The Essay in Academics

Not only are students required to read a variety of essays during their academic education, but they will likely be required to write several different kinds of essays throughout their scholastic career.  Don’t love to write?  Then consider working with a ghost essay writer !  While all essays require an introduction, body paragraphs in support of the argumentative thesis statement, and a conclusion, academic essays can take several different formats in the way they approach a topic.  Common essays required in high school, college, and post-graduate classes include:

Five paragraph essay

This is the most common type of a formal essay. The type of paper that students are usually exposed to when they first hear about the concept of the essay itself. It follows easy outline structure – an opening introduction paragraph; three body paragraphs to expand the thesis; and conclusion to sum it up.

Argumentative essay

These essays are commonly assigned to explore a controversial issue.  The goal is to identify the major positions on either side and work to support the side the writer agrees with while refuting the opposing side’s potential arguments.

Compare and Contrast essay

This essay compares two items, such as two poems, and works to identify similarities and differences, discussing the strength and weaknesses of each.  This essay can focus on more than just two items, however.  The point of this essay is to reveal new connections the reader may not have considered previously.

Definition essay

This essay has a sole purpose – defining a term or a concept in as much detail as possible. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, not quite. The most important part of the process is picking up the word. Before zooming it up under the microscope, make sure to choose something roomy so you can define it under multiple angles. The definition essay outline will reflect those angles and scopes.

Descriptive essay

Perhaps the most fun to write, this essay focuses on describing its subject using all five of the senses.  The writer aims to fully describe the topic; for example, a descriptive essay could aim to describe the ocean to someone who’s never seen it or the job of a teacher.  Descriptive essays rely heavily on detail and the paragraphs can be organized by sense.

Illustration essay

The purpose of this essay is to describe an idea, occasion or a concept with the help of clear and vocal examples. “Illustration” itself is handled in the body paragraphs section. Each of the statements, presented in the essay needs to be supported with several examples. Illustration essay helps the author to connect with his audience by breaking the barriers with real-life examples – clear and indisputable.

Informative Essay

Being one the basic essay types, the informative essay is as easy as it sounds from a technical standpoint. High school is where students usually encounter with informative essay first time. The purpose of this paper is to describe an idea, concept or any other abstract subject with the help of proper research and a generous amount of storytelling.

Narrative essay

This type of essay focuses on describing a certain event or experience, most often chronologically.  It could be a historic event or an ordinary day or month in a regular person’s life. Narrative essay proclaims a free approach to writing it, therefore it does not always require conventional attributes, like the outline. The narrative itself typically unfolds through a personal lens, and is thus considered to be a subjective form of writing.

Persuasive essay

The purpose of the persuasive essay is to provide the audience with a 360-view on the concept idea or certain topic – to persuade the reader to adopt a certain viewpoint. The viewpoints can range widely from why visiting the dentist is important to why dogs make the best pets to why blue is the best color.  Strong, persuasive language is a defining characteristic of this essay type.

The Essay in Art

Several other artistic mediums have adopted the essay as a means of communicating with their audience.  In the visual arts, such as painting or sculpting, the rough sketches of the final product are sometimes deemed essays.  Likewise, directors may opt to create a film essay which is similar to a documentary in that it offers a personal reflection on a relevant issue.  Finally, photographers often create photographic essays in which they use a series of photographs to tell a story, similar to a narrative or a descriptive essay.

Drawing the line – question answered

“What is an Essay?” is quite a polarizing question. On one hand, it can easily be answered in a couple of words. On the other, it is surely the most profound and self-established type of content there ever was. Going back through the history of the last five-six centuries helps us understand where did it come from and how it is being applied ever since.

If you must write an essay, follow these five important steps to works towards earning the “A” you want:

• Understand and review the kind of essay you must write
• Brainstorm your argument
• Find research from reliable sources to support your perspective
• Cite all sources parenthetically within the paper and on the Works Cited page
• Follow all grammatical rules

Generally speaking, when you must write any type of essay, start sooner rather than later!  Don’t procrastinate – give yourself time to develop your perspective and work on crafting a unique and original approach to the topic.  Remember: it’s always a good idea to have another set of eyes (or three) look over your essay before handing in the final draft to your teacher or professor.  Don’t trust your fellow classmates?  Consider hiring an editor or a ghostwriter to help out!

If you are still unsure on whether you can cope with your task – you are in the right place to get help. HandMadeWriting is the perfect answer to the question “Who can write my essay?”

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Art Research Paper Topics

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How to Write an Essay about Your Name

Are you looking for an easy and quick way to write an essay about your name? Then this is the perfect tutorial for you! 

I’m Constance, and in this tutorial, I will show you how to write an essay about your name in six simple steps. I will also give you an example of such an essay as we go through the process step by step.

Let’s begin!

Step 1: Choose your main idea.

If you want to organize your thoughts and present them clearly and concisely in an essay, you need to choose your thesis — a main idea for your essay. Simply take a stand and write it down as a simple sentence.

What do you want to say about your name? Do you like your name? Do you think it’s interesting? Whatever you think of will act as your thesis . 

For example, you can say, “I love my name.”   Note that we kept it really simple. By doing so, we can clearly think of the next things we need for the essay.

Step 2: Think of three supporting ideas.

Trying to write an essay on only one undivided idea or thesis will get you stuck.

So, you need more than one idea. Two ideas are better than one. Three is even better. But four may be too many because you’re just writing a simple essay. 

So, coming up with three supporting ideas is the best method. Why? Because three is the perfect number the brain can handle. And it works all the time! We call it the Power of Three.

So, let’s use the Power of Three to keep our ideas flowing.

The Power of Three is a three-part structure that divides your main idea into three distinct supporting points. It helps create your body paragraphs.

Let’s apply it to an essay about your name. 

Ask yourself – “why do I love my name?” And write down three answers. Here are mine:

• I like its Latin origin .
• I like how my parents came up with it.
• It sounds great .

Using ideas that are too similar to each other may cause writer’s block. So, note that our three supporting points are totally different from one another.

Keep them distinct and simple to avoid running out of things to write down the line.

Step 3: Write your thesis statement.

Now that we have a clear picture of the essay’s structure, we can write a thesis statement.  

When writing a thesis statement, take your main idea and its supporting points and write them out as a sentence or complete sentences in a single paragraph.

Once you’ve written your thesis statement, you have a nice outline for your essay.

Here’s an example of a thesis statement:

“I love my name because I like its Latin origin, the story of how my parents came up with it is pretty cool, and it sounds great, too.”

Note how clear the statement is. We started with our thesis, and the three supporting points sound like great ideas to back it up. So, it works.

Great! Now, we’re ready for the next step.

Step 4: Write the body paragraphs.

After dividing our main idea into three distinct points, we can easily write three body paragraphs for our essay.

When writing a body paragraph , you should start with a topic sentence summarizing the entire paragraph. Then, briefly explain it and illustrate it using examples .

Note that your paragraphs should go from general to specific. 

In a body paragraph, your topic sentence (the first sentence) is the most general statement. After writing your topic sentence, you will unpack it by writing more specifically, using an explanation and examples.

Here are examples of body paragraphs for our essay:

Paragraph 1

One of the few things I like about my name is its etymology. It has a Latin origin, rooted in the word “constantem,” which means “faithful” or “steadfast.” It is a name that represents perseverance and dedication regardless of the challenges ahead. I could not be more proud and grateful for my name’s origin. It reflects my determined personality and my loyalty to the people I love.

Paragraph 2

I also love that I was named after my grandmother Constancia. I appreciate my mom and dad naming me after her – someone I loved so much. My grandmother was an amazing woman. She raised eight kids despite her humble status in life, which highlighted her steadfastness. And she was faithful to her family and supported it however she could.

Paragraph 3

My name has a certain sonorous quality to it with its consonants that roll off the tongue. I am thankful for the sound of my name. It has a beautiful melody to it that I always love to hear. Every time I hear it, it brings me a sense of warmth and joy and puts a smile on my face.

Note how each paragraph proceeds from a general statement to more specific points.

Now that we’ve written our body paragraphs, we are ready for the next step.

Step 5: Write the introduction and conclusion.

Introduction.

An introduction can be just one more general sentence, after which you should simply proceed to your thesis statement, which includes your thesis and three supporting points.

Here’s an example of an entire introductory paragraph:

Many of us may not think much about it, but our names are a part of our identity and can have a lasting impact on us. I love my name because of its Latin origin, the story of how my parents came up with it, and its cool sound. My name means “constant” or “steadfast” in Latin, which reflects my determined personality. It came from my grandmother’s name, Constancia, whom I loved so much. And it just sounds amazing, even if I only say so myself.”

If you want a time-proven, easy, and quick way to write a conclusion for your essays, I recommend restating what you stated in your introduction using different words. 

Here’s an example of a conclusion for our essay:

My name is an important part of my identity and has a special place in my heart. It has a meaningful linguistic origin from the Latin word constantem, meaning “steadfastness.” It is a special reminder of my grandmother, Constancia. And it has a nice ring to it that brings me joy.

Now, we’re ready for the final step.

Step 6: Proofread.

The final step in writing an essay is going back and proofreading it. Look out for:

• Misspellings
• Grammatical errors
• Irrelevant material (stuff that doesn’t belong in the essay)
• Contradictions (make sure you don’t contradict your own points)

And we are done writing an example of an essay about a name. 

I hope you learned a lot in this tutorial. Now go ahead and write an essay about your name!

Tutor Phil is an e-learning professional who helps adult learners finish their degrees by teaching them academic writing skills.

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Home — Essay Samples — Philosophy — Meaning of Life — The Significance of a Name

The Significance of a Name

• Categories: Meaning of Life Names

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Words: 2041 |

11 min read

Published: Mar 28, 2019

Words: 2041 | Pages: 4 | 11 min read

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Meaning of the Name

Meaning of the name - Find the meaning of your name

What is the meaning of the name ? Here you will find a complete overview of all names with meaning and much more. We search the entire internet so you don’t have to! Here you will find out everything about your name, not just the meaning but so much more, such as origin, pronunciation and more. Enter your name above and learn all about your name, or someone else’s name.

A (first) name is a proper name that is given to a child at birth and traditionally placed before the surname in Western Culture. This name (you may also have other middle names) distinguishes someone from others with the same surname within the family. However it is not unusual for children to be named after family members and the new child may therefore be given the title Junior or Jr. (Which often lapses later in life)

The rules for giving a first name vary widely by culture and subculture. This includes whether or not the child will be given a family name or whether they need to have a saint or faith name included. Research shows that the choice of first name can also be related to education and income levels.

Finally a first name can be rejected if is it considered to be inappropriate. Think abusive words, symbols, a name that consists of too many names, trademarks or is too long. Whilst the rules differ per country it is unusual to have a surname used as a first name in many countries unless it already exists as a first name.

The choice of first name often depends on the mother tongue, religion and gender of the child. There are however, a number of other influential factors such as traditions, (be they family, national or regional.) A name can be given because the parents believe it has the most appropriate ‘meaning’, or suits the appearance or describes the characteristics of the child. It may also suit the wishes or expectations of their parents for them. It may even be part of a political or ideological program.

This website came to life because I wanted to know the meaning of my name. I found this fairly quickly but other websites had other meanings and so quickly I was lost. I thought there must be a better way!

So now we search the various websites which provide information about your name and bundle this info and show the most common value. In addition, all sources are shown with a summary of the data that can be found on these websites.

English Collaborative

What is Your Name Story?

Engaging with students’ names at the beginning of the year helps them critically think about language and naming, as well as consider concepts around naming related to meaning, culture, power, and identity. This lesson further helps English teachers address values around diversity, equity, and inclusion.

• Ask students to watch this 2011 advertisement for Coke . In pairs discuss: What might be some reasons why this Coke campaign was so successful?
• Then, watch this 2013 adaptation of the campaign from China . Ask students: How is this campaign different?  What might be some reasons why Coke may have changed their approach for a Chinese audience?
• Write your first/given name on the piece of paper or slide given to you. This can be your full name or your nick name.
• Who named you?  Why were you given this name?
• What does your name mean?  Where does it come from? Does this meaning and context represent your identity?  Why/why not?
• What is your experience with your name? 
• Do you like/dislike your name?
• Select or create icons and images that are related to your name story. 
• Share your name story in small groups.
• Have students read this article from The Atlantic entitled, “ Who Wins in the Name Game ”?
• Why is the language of names important?
• What assumptions do we make about people based on their name?
• What assumptions might people make about you based on your name?
• What relationships can you see between power and names?
• In pairs, students discuss the question: Should we be made to use our “real” names online and in other contexts?
• Then, have students read this article: “ Why Facebook and Google’s Concept of ‘Real Names’ Is Revolutionary ”
• Choose a sentence from the article that supports this assertion.
• To what extent do you agree with the article’s argument?
• To what extent do you disagree with the article’s argument?
• What issues exist because people are allowed to use pseudonyms online that are not addressed in this article?
• Where do you stand on this issue?
• In their portfolios, students write a reflection responding to the following question: What new understandings and ideas did you encounter today through our discussion of names?

Note: This lesson could easily be cut down to do only one or two of these activities. As planned, this lesson would take approximately 80 minutes.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

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Meaning of essay in English

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• I want to finish off this essay before I go to bed .
• His essay was full of spelling errors .
• Have you given that essay in yet ?
• Have you handed in your history essay yet ?
• I'd like to discuss the first point in your essay.
• boilerplate
• composition
• dissertation
• essay question
• peer review
• go after someone
• go all out idiom
• go down swinging/fighting idiom
• go for it idiom
• go for someone
• shoot the works idiom
• smarten (someone/something) up
• smarten up your act idiom
• square the circle idiom
• step on the gas idiom

essay | American Dictionary

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a name someone uses instead of their real name, especially on a written work

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Your Name (2016 Film)

By makoto shinkai, your name (2016 film) analysis.

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

Written by people who wish to remain anonymous

"Your Name" is a live action anime movie of the novel by the same name, and it was directed by the same author of the novel. The primary genre of the anime movie is fantasy with supernatural elements shown alongside a love story between the two main protagonists, Taki and Mitsuha.

The movie begins with two of them telling that they live with a sensation that they lost something without a given context. The context to that is told after with their interesting love story.

Mitsuha wakes up disoriented without a memory of what she was doing the previous day. She lives in a small town called Itamari, has a few friends who have bigger dreams like her of leaving it. Her father is a mayor candidate and her grandmother, Hitoha Miyamizu , is the head of the family and in charge of the local shrine preserving the tradition of the place.

Mitsuha is unhappy living in the small town and wishes she was born as a handsome Tokyo boy. The following day Mitsuha wakes up in a body of a boy called Taki living in Tokyo. She thinks it's only a dream and decides to enjoy while she can. As the time goes on, and Mitsuha keeps occasionally waking up in this boy's body, she realizes that it isn't a dream and that the boy is in her body as she is in his. They leave messages to each other and make a deal to do their best to not reveal that something's wrong.

Mitsuha arranges a date for Taki with his longtime crush Miki and tells him to enjoy watching the comet passing by. Taki is confused after the date, as there is no comet on the sky. That was the last he heard from Mitsuha, their switching of bodies suddenly ends.

Taki is determined to find Mitsuha and meet her in person, draws the town Itamari from memory and begins his search alongside Miki and one of his other friends. He does find it eventually and discovers that the town was destroyed three years ago after the nucleus of a comet passing by broke and piece of it fell on Itamari. Taki is confused and devastated and his memory and messages on his phone by Mitsuha start to disappear.

Taki decides to uncover what happened and remember the place of gods, that he visited with Mitsuha's grandmother while in Mitsuha's body. He remembers what she was telling him about "Musubi", about the knotting and twisting of time, and how they went there to leave Mitsuha's "kuchikamizake", a drink that contains half of her. He goes to the shrine and drinks the half of Mitsuha, which brings him back into her body and her timeline.

Taki in Mitsuha's body tries to warn everyone about the disaster that's about to strike, but unsuccessfully. He devises a plan with Mitsuha's friend to make an emergency that will force the people to evacuate. Seeing that he can't convince anyone, he goes back to the hill where the shrine of gods is to find Mitsuha. Mitsuha wakes up in the shrine in Taki's body and hears him call out to her. They move towards each other and meet at "kataware-doki", at twilight where they are able to see each other from different timelines. They promise to each other to meet again.

Mitsuha returns to the town and goes through with the plan of warning the people. Everyone survives, and the movie ends with five years in the future, continuing the context from the beginning, when Taki and Mitsuha are looking for each other despite having lost all memory. They suddenly see each other in trains overlapping, and run to meet. Taki asks Mitsuha if they've met before. She answers that she thought the same thing about him.

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Your Name (2016 Film) Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Your Name (2016 Film) is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for Your Name (2016 Film)

Your Name (2016 Film) study guide contains a biography of director Makoto Shinkai, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Your Name (2016 Film)
• Your Name (2016 Film) Summary
• Character List
• Director's Influence

Essays for Your Name (2016 Film)

Your Name (2016 Film) essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Your Name (2016 Film), directed by Makoto Shinkai.

• What's in a name?: How 'Your Name' Combines Identity and Magical Realism

Wikipedia Entries for Your Name (2016 Film)

• Introduction