My name is September Rose, and I do like my name, but because of my unique name I seem to get lots of comments and also some positive feedback on my name, that is except for at the end of August or as you may imagine, “in September”.  At the end of August people are thinking about September, so if they hear someone call my name they think about the date and somehow can’t accept that this is my real name. Calling someone September in September can be outright confusing I admit, so during the month of September I started to use the name “Rose” instead. Changing your name for a month is not as easy as it sounds, but my close friends have gotten used to it and have little time adjusting. I myself, perhaps have the hardest time adjusting because when I use the name Rose, it can actually change the way I feel about myself! Using the name Rose also greatly effects the way others treat me. This year was busy and I found myself in lots of social activities introducing myself or being introduced as Rose, and I realized my name is a major part of who I am and it made me think about the people who may not like their own name. Wow, what would it be like, to go through life limiting who you are because of a social opinion of a name. I think somewhere we all have some amount of judgement around a name and if we hear about a person or read about someone that we do not know, we form an opinion, starting from their name. You may not have known anyone named September but perhaps you have met someone named Rose, so do you have an opinion of who Rose is? The names of our close friends, the people we admire, and our family members have all contributed to the characteristics both good and bad that we associate with their names. We can not help to remember the names of the people who have had an impact in our lives, and this impact good or bad creates an association that subconsciously may affect the next person we meet with that same name.

 

Fortunately for me, I have a unique opportunity of meeting people outside of this name association, and in having a unique name I wonder if I am accepted any differently than those who have been given common names. In using the name “Rose” for just the month of September I do get the feeling that my unique name has a power and attraction to it, and that Rose is treated a little differently. Is it all in the name or just a perceived energy that I myself am creating? I think there is more to it than we might like to believe, I think I will check with my new friend “Red”