What's in a Name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

by any other name would smell as sweet." 

--Juliet in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

So, what is in a name? It isn’t something that a lot of us think about often. For most of us, our first and middle names were given to us at the time of our birth by our parents. Later in life our surname may change due to marriage or adoption, but the first name our family and friends call us usually doesn’t change.

My full legal name is Christopher Collins. No, I don’t have a middle name because my father, Neil Aloysius Collins, declined to give my brothers and I middle names at birth. I’ve been told he didn’t like his middle name and said that if his children wanted a middle name, they could choose one when they became an adult. So, for my whole life when filling out some kind of form, I have always left the the middle name space blank.

Names and Popularity

The popularity of first names changes over time and it is an interesting exercise to consult one of the numerous web sites that track the popularity of first names given at birth in different years.  According to the Social Security Administration, the top five names for boys in 2014 were: Noah, Liam, Mason, Jacob and William. The top five for girls: Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Isabella and Ava. My name came in at number 30.

When I was growing up, I’m sure there was no one else named Christopher in my grade in elementary school and I don’t remember any in my high school graduating class either. In fact, the name Christopher was not even in the top 100 in the late 1940s.

During the 1980s, the name Christopher became wildly popular ranking number 2 on the annual Social Security lists for most of the decade. That meant about 3 percent of all boys born in the U.S. were given that name. Another illustration of how popular that name was in the late 90s, my son’s 8^th grade basketball team had three boys named Christopher out of 13 players on the roster.

A Boy Named Chris

So, how did I get my name?  My parents had two sons before me, so they hoped I would be girl to be named Christine, which ranked number 47 in 1948. But, when the delivery day came, as the saying goes, “…this apple has a stem on it.” So, I was named Christopher.

Most of my life I’ve used the abbreviated name “Chris” because that’s less formal. When I was very young, if my mother called me “Christopher” that meant I was in big trouble.

But, using the abbreviated form of my name caused some gender confusion for others who have never met me. In recent years I’ve even met a couple of women named “Chris Collins.”

In the 1960 Olympics an American female swimmer named Chris Von Saltza won two gold medals getting a lot of news coverage. As a 12-year old I was the victim of some serious razzing by the gang I hung out with because of that name and a couple of times fists were thrown. So, I grew to dislike my first name for awhile.

Years ago at work there was a discussion in our office among two co-workers and me, Dale (male) and Dana (female) about this topic. Occasionally, I get junk mail addressed to “Ms. Chris Collins” including a Victoria’s Secret catalog a few years ago.

Names and Personality

There are a lot of websites that purport to link a name with personality traits. I went to a couple of them to see what they said about my name.

A website called first-names-meanings.com said men with the name Christopher are “perceptive, intuitive and particularly emotional” and “they are characterized by a certain dualism, between sociability, extroversion and altruism.” The website went on to say “they need other people” but, it added, “…they also require time alone in order to recharge their batteries and maintain their privacy.” Interesting.

Another website called blogthings.com said those named Christopher “…communicate well…and are naturally creative…” The website also said, “You are the total package—suave, sexy, smart and strong.” I think I like this description better.

The people who write these things have to include enough things that you like as well as other things that intrigue you enough to keep reading. Same thing goes for those who write horoscopes.

There are many, many other websites for you to choose from if you want to find the meaning of your name. It can be a fun way to spend some time, so enjoy.