Denying My Name!!!
I was just reading the Rihanna-Chris Brown assault article online, to see that Rihanna's real name is Robyn Fenty!!!! Of course, my initial response to that was:
HOW DARE SHE DENY MY NAME! WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY NAME, IT'S A GREAT NAME!!!
But on pausing for reflection, I realised that celebrities changing perfectly good names is a very common occurance. Take 50 Cent, Eminem, 2 Pac, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Anna Nicole Smith, Billie Holiday, Marilyn Monroe, the list goes on and on. But what exactly is it that is so desirable about changing a name?
For some, it is the work of a smarmy agent who tells them that they must have a successful sounding name to be successful. Marilyn Monroe is one such example, who changed her name from Norma Jean Baker. Now imagine if a cigar in a suit had told Obama to do that? Would he have had the same edge is he had been called George Smith?
Others, however, seem to have made an extremley pointless change to their name. Alicia Cook became Alicia Keys, for the sake of clever word play and Robert Keeshan became Captain Kangroo because... well he's clearly not the sharpest tool in the box.
Another thought has just sprung to mind. Have you seen the episode of Friends where Phoboe changes her name to Princess Consuela BananaHammock? On arrival at the "name changing place", Phoboe asks what the rules are to changing her name to be told that she can change to anything she wants.
While the authiorities would obviously not allow someone to legally change their name to comething offensive, the fact that it is so easy to change your name is slighlty concerning. Your name is often considered a huge part of your identity, as it is what you are known by from birth to death. So when you change your name, surely you are changing a part of yourself? Or perhaps for some people, that is the whole advantage to changing your name. Would Marilyn Monroe had as much confidence and sex appeal as Norma Jean Baker? I guess we'll never know!
HOW DARE SHE DENY MY NAME! WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY NAME, IT'S A GREAT NAME!!!
But on pausing for reflection, I realised that celebrities changing perfectly good names is a very common occurance. Take 50 Cent, Eminem, 2 Pac, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Anna Nicole Smith, Billie Holiday, Marilyn Monroe, the list goes on and on. But what exactly is it that is so desirable about changing a name?
For some, it is the work of a smarmy agent who tells them that they must have a successful sounding name to be successful. Marilyn Monroe is one such example, who changed her name from Norma Jean Baker. Now imagine if a cigar in a suit had told Obama to do that? Would he have had the same edge is he had been called George Smith?
Others, however, seem to have made an extremley pointless change to their name. Alicia Cook became Alicia Keys, for the sake of clever word play and Robert Keeshan became Captain Kangroo because... well he's clearly not the sharpest tool in the box.
Another thought has just sprung to mind. Have you seen the episode of Friends where Phoboe changes her name to Princess Consuela BananaHammock? On arrival at the "name changing place", Phoboe asks what the rules are to changing her name to be told that she can change to anything she wants.
While the authiorities would obviously not allow someone to legally change their name to comething offensive, the fact that it is so easy to change your name is slighlty concerning. Your name is often considered a huge part of your identity, as it is what you are known by from birth to death. So when you change your name, surely you are changing a part of yourself? Or perhaps for some people, that is the whole advantage to changing your name. Would Marilyn Monroe had as much confidence and sex appeal as Norma Jean Baker? I guess we'll never know!
1 comments:
i have changed my name to from delroy nester williams to delroy nesta williams, well at least only in my head for now until i can get it legally done
it's not that bad, i use nesta as a pen name, just for my writings, but nester is still on all my official documents
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