Excerpts from a Blog in the Editorial Times of India newspaper

Sobriquets, appellations, monikers, handles and other names people play: Take a call on how you’re called..

A person’s name is the greatest connection to their own identity and individuality. Some might say it is the most important word in the world to that person. It is the one way we can easily get someone’s attention. It is a sign of courtesy and a way of recognizing them.

The name you’re given as a child might affect the shape of your face. … Our physical traits in turn impact how other people perceive us, which again affects how we feel and see ourselves, and so on and so forth. Psychologists believe there’s a relationship between internals and externals, a back and forth that shapes us.

Identity is not just who you are currently, but who you are called to be. … When you are born, you are given an identity through your name. A name helps differentiate you from others. While every culture’s naming methods differ significantly, the impact of a name on identity is intercultural.

“What’s in a name?” Juliet asked Romeo, implying that what is called isn’t essential to one’s being and can be changed at will. ”What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” (Quote from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare,

“What is in a name” means, name of a thing does not matter as much as the quality of the thing. Shakespeare used this phrase in his famous play ‘Romeo and Juliet’. A rose if called something entirely different, would still smell as sweetly as it does with the name “rose”.

Five centuries later, an American singer, Prince Rogers Nelson took her at her word and renamed himself nine times, using tags like Tora Tora and Nevermind, before settling for the self-referential The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, or TAFKAP to his buddies.

Such moniker multiplication is contrary to Gertrude Stein’s emphatic assertion that “A rose is a rose is a rose”, interpreted as underpinning the universal ‘law of identity’ based on nomenclature.

Names of an unconventional kind, however, while conforming to the law of identity might run foul of other regulatory requirements.

A case in point is that of the newborn son of Elon Musk of Tesla fame, and his musician partner who calls herself Grimes, who has been named X AE A-12 by his proud parents. Many of those who follow the billionaire inventor’s posts on Twitter were stumped by the heterodox handle, their bemusement undiminished by Grimes’ explication of the gender-neutral name that the X stands for “the unknown variable”, the AE is a reference both to love and Artificial Intelligence, and that A-12 is a type of airplane. However, spoilsport sticklers are claiming that the law in California, where the baby has been born, will not permit official registry of such a name, which includes numbers, while sceptics dismiss the whole thing as a publicity ploy, and what in the vernacular might be called a ‘naam ke vaaste’ exercise.

Remember that conclusion: the name you are given at birth “does not seem to matter at all to your economic life.” In other words, it’s not the name your parents give you; it’s the kind of parents you have in the first place. And different kinds of parents of course choose different kinds of names.

There is nothing wrong with changing your name purely for the pleasure or fun of having a new name, and we will support anybody who is changing their name for whatever reason (or simply for no reason).

Everybody has the right to change their name, at any time, and you don’t need to justify why you have done so.

The Personality will change with the name change. … As the name suggests, it tell you about what you would like to DO and BE. Any change in this number would automatically change what you would like to DO and BE. However, remember that your talents are defined by the Date of Birth DOB.