Names can give people a self-perception that can shape their decisions, therefore names should not be what you base your life around.
The effect of someone’s name is something principal in my life through my family. This is because almost every descendant on my father’s side of the family studied law. Most of them became lawyers shortly after. It is expected from them for every child to also study law when they become older. My last name defined what I would most likely study later in the future. I cannot see myself as a lawyer, but it is what I was told to see myself as. Law does not interest me as something for me to study, but my name seems like it has already decided that for me. The theme that names can hold a lot of power over someone’s life shows me that I do not have to follow a path I do not want to pursue because of a name. Although it will be difficult to deny my name’s decided future, I am learning that I am not forced to do anything I do not want to do. This theme shows me that it is possible for me to pick my own future. My future does not have to follow the influence of my name or family. I can rely on my mother’s side of the family to help me not follow the trend of becoming a lawyer on my father’s side. I do not want to base my life on what my last name expects me to, so I will try to listen to what I want instead of what my family expects. I have hope for what I will choose to study because I will not let my name define who I will be. Names can negatively impact people with what they can make people think, so I do not need mine to form my decisions.
Names also impact people in different ways, like how they influenced the way characters in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ were with others. They mostly negatively affected the people involved. Sampson shows this when he says “A dog of the house of Montague moves me” (‘Romeo and Juliet’, 1.1.8). Sampson is not part of the Capulet family, who are known to hate the Montague family, he just works for them, yet the name of whom he works for determines how he perceives the Montagues. In the same scene, Sampson and Gregory end up fighting with Montague’s men because of the names of the people they work for. None of the people quarreling knew each other prior to their dispute, but the names mattered so much to them they tried to fight to the death. Montague’s men that angered Sampson did not directly do anything to provoke him except walk by. Correlation to the Montague name had standards with it. Being associated with a name could affect how some people will view you as a person, whether it is positive or negative, or whether they know you or not. It does not only affect how others see you, but it also changes how you see others and how you see yourself. In the case of Sampson, he saw himself better than anyone related to the Montagues and saw those same people as less than him and whom he was associated with. Words that we use to distinguish each other had an immense impact on people who do not even go by the name. The grudges held against each other were unnecessary and only brought problems, yet continued anyways.
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‘Romeo and Juliet’ also showed that the views of people were not the only way names affected them for the worse. Dishonoring her own name scared Juliet, as she said: “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love. And I’ll no longer be a Capulet” (‘Romeo and Juliet’, 2.2.36-39). This demonstrates that she would rather abandon her family than face what they would do if they found out she was in love with Romeo. Juliet already knew the problems it would bring due to his last name. She would not even consider telling her father because she would lose Romeo. The only solution she could find was for either Romeo or Juliet to give up their name, the only barrier between them, and she was not against being the one to do it. Knowing how important the conflict over names was to her family, she wanted to give them up. The pressure that came with hiding her relationship became so intense that it was as if names were more important to her father than his own daughter. Juliet could not handle being denied by her family and even tried to fake her own death when nothing else would work. She could not beat the way names were what her family lived by.
The perception of names is not only shown in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, but it is also present in the movie ‘Encanto’. The movie is about a family with a miracle, where each child would get a special power relating to who they are. Every child got a power except for the main character, Mirabel Madrigal. Since the family Madrigal had powers, they led their village and had high expectations to meet. Throughout the movie, Mirabel wants to fit in with the rest of her family and tries everything possible to prove herself worthy of the Madrigal name. The name was the most important thing to her, but no matter how hard she tried, she would always be excluded since no one expected anything from her, because she did not have a special power. Mirabel believed that the Madrigal name defined who she should be. Since no one saw her as helpful as the rest of her siblings and cousins, she felt more determined than ever to show that she belongs with her name and family. During the movie, as Mirabel interacts with her sisters, it is shown that she is not the only one feeling pressured to honor their family name. Each person has their own struggles with keeping up with the importance of the Madrigal name and the effects it has on them. The family members all felt like they owed the expectations held up to their name, whether they liked it or not. Living up to the pressures of having to be a certain way due to your name was the conflict they all faced. Everyone in their village saw them as the solution to anything exceptionally hard, so they saw themselves as having to be exceptionally perfect. Mirabel’s sisters show that they never considered themselves and what they would like to do because they are too worried about maintaining their position in the family. They identified the Madrigal name as more important than their own well-being and never considered otherwise. Once again, showing a scenario where names are worth more than the people with the name themselves until it’s too late.
As shown, names can affect the whole plot of a fictional story, but they can also have similar effects on real people today. The sons of famous football players are an example of people who face pressure with names. When they pursue a football career, the public is always expecting some talent from them because of who their father is. Most get the opportunity to play in the big leagues because of their name. Although it is an advantage to their career, it can turn out horribly for them if they do not have the same skills as their father. Some reach to be as great as expected, but some, of course, do not. Much like the previous explanations, it is most probable that the children of football players spend their lives trying to be as great as their fathers in football just because they were born with the same name. Having the world waiting for you to be astonishing at something you might just not be good at can be terrifying. Not succeeding the same way their father did can be crucial to the rest of their lives. As soon as they are born, their whole lives are built and planned out for football so that they can live up to their name. Failing to be exactly what everyone hoped for ruins their lives in the public eye. An example of people’s lives pressured by their name is the sons of Pelé. The famous football player Pelé had two sons, both not getting as near as successful as Pelé. Not only did the world of football think they were supposed to be made for it, but his two sons thought so as well. They did not get as far as they were supposed to, and people said that they would not have gotten to where they are now at all if it were not for their last names. Children of famous football players, or famous people, have to carry the weight that comes with their names. Their lives are so shaped out that it can be upsetting if what they worked for their whole lives and what they saw themselves as does not end up identically to what their name meant they should have achieved. These people’s lives were decided too early and they had no choice but to base their lives around their name. This would not happen to anyone if people did not live in fear for their names.
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