At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. 😉
What if we didn't get assigned a name until age 13 (or 16, or 21, or...)?
Actually, I like how some Native Americans treated naming. Parents would given an infant some childish name and then, upon coming of adolescent age, the young person would (I think) have help from tribal elders in picking a fitting adult moniker. :) Be well!
ReplyDeleteProbably where I got the question from. (These things sit in my subconscious until I need them.)
DeleteActually I kind of like the idea even though it would be confusing to get used to a new name. I don't particularly care for my name, so if I had a chance to rename myself at an older age, I think I would grasp it. Actually my SIL did that. She liked a particular name so after a few years she legally changed it to that name. I can't get used to her new name though.
ReplyDeletebetty
Names have power. Jewish custom, an infant does not receive a name at birth. A son is named at his bris. A daughter is named in the synagogue, during the part of the service when Torah is read. There are both theological and superstitious reasons.
ReplyDeleteInteresting.
DeleteWe'd get a lot less stupid names, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteWell if that was the case then I wonder what number I would go by!! haha....better yet, hoping that I don't get stuck being called ugly words! haha...actually I think it would not be good. I think kids need that from birth. They need a way for the ones that love them to be referred by. They need to be able to establish theirselves by one name and not just anything anyone chances to call you at a given time. Plus, being called by a name is more personal then being called HEY YOU!
ReplyDeleteI suppose we'd be called something until then, something other than "hey you".
DeleteYep....probably a number! Hey you would just include way too many folks! haha
DeleteOn a show I watched, the mother called her kiddo Lil Boy. She said he'd come up with a name later. I'm sure it would be something more akin to that.
DeleteHAHA....I call Dakota (dog) that sometimes so that would get confusing if I had a kid named that. I guess they could go by Little Boy 1 and Little Boy 2 depending on who got there first! Personally, the coolest thing about being pregnant (and the hardest) was having a name picked out before the kid came.
DeleteYeah, I wouldn't want to contemplate how that would work in a large family...
DeleteIn medieval and renaissance times, babies weren't named for a year or two or three years. If I could pick my own name at age 13, I don't know. It would be something interesting and exotic.
ReplyDeleteOr "interesting" and "exotic". What 13-year-olds consider a good idea rarely is.
DeleteMy sister has an unusual and interesting first name. She used to get teased a lot. She swore that as an adult she would use her plain vanilla middle name. She came to terms with her weird name, even likes it now, but as a teen ...not so much.
DeleteThat's the other side of it. I think we all hate our names as teens. I know I did.
DeleteYes! A chance to pick our own names would be great!
ReplyDeleteUghh....I can just imagine s9me more dumb nut names. If we don’t like our names we can always change it just like my niece did. At least most of us are not named Peek a Boo or Apple
ReplyDeleteIf you keep an eye on my sidebar, I include so many parents' ideas of names. Anyone can come up with an awful name.
DeleteLike Eleven in Stranger Things? Bahaha. I couldn't resist. Yeah, it'd be wierd!!
ReplyDeleteAs I don't watch Stranger Things, I do not get the reference. (Is that a temp name for her?)
DeleteTo answer the Stranger Things question.
DeleteIt was not a temp name for her. She grew up in a government facility. The children were not given names. Just numbers. She was number 11. So, it wasn't her name, but her identification. That's a subtle difference, I know.
However, later when she was out and among civilians, her friends started referring to her as El.
Oh. Okay.
DeleteDifferent people would have called us different names, and we would have had to remember multiple names, depending on who called us what!!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me ... Some children have two names, one the formal one officially registered in the birth certificate, and another pet name. Long, long ago, the sister of a friend of mine -- after she joined school -- didn't like her official name, and preferred her pet name. So, the parents were left with no choice but to get her name changed officially! Then onward she had just one name, the original pet name!
We all have different names, depending. That wouldn't be much different, I'd guess.
DeleteThis makes me think of my friend Toni. She was born as Lydia, but adopted being called Toni until finally she declared her name was Toni and got it legally changed.
ReplyDeleteMan, if I named myself when I was 13, I'd probably have some super-complicated, impossible-to-pronounce name that I chose just because I thought it sounded cool. :)
I know I would have done the same at 13.
DeleteMy time spent in China taught me that many children do not receive legal names until well after their first birthday. They like to wait until the child's personality begins to emerge and then pick a name that is fitting.
ReplyDeleteIf waiting longer, I could see that this could be something similar. The interesting part would be how children would be registered and tracked for things like school records, immunizations and such. Maybe something like a social security number could be used for record-keeping.
There would be a whole infrastructure that would need to be in place for this to work. Not saying that it should...
DeleteIn HS there was a guy in class that always called me 'Hey You' cuz he never knew my name.
ReplyDeleteDo we get to test out names along the way? That would be chaos.
I know that in China you get your name on your first birthday. I know of no culture that names a child as late as 13, but I have read about cultures that give a new name to people at pubescence. People often change their names later in life and that's always interesting.
ReplyDeleteSome cultures either assign a "baby" name and you don't get your adult name after puberty. Others won't name a baby in fear that evil spirits will find it. It's actually quite an interesting topic- not that I answered your question!
ReplyDeleteSome weeks I like my questions. Some weeks... This is more of a meh question.
DeleteWhat would we be called in the meantime? If my family called me "Five" because I was the fifth child, I'd probably be used to that and wouldn't want to change it.
ReplyDeleteSome have said that a temp baby name was used. I have no idea, actually.
DeleteFor a few months when I was 18, I called myself Death. After I got off that kick, I decided to spell my name Susane. Such angst. lol
ReplyDelete