I have been thinking on this quote by William Shakespeare lately, let me tell you why-it seems I have been talking about names and the importance of them for the last few years due to everyone around me having children. I used to think that it doesn't really matter what you name your child because, "That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." This used to make sense to me, because I was of the opinion that whatever I named my son or what I actually decided to refer to him with would not matter, because he would still be the same. Now that we have been in Turkey for the last two weeks and I have had a lot of time to spend with Calvin and analyze his behavior it seems that the ghost from Calvin and Hobbes has entered my sons person. He has become a handful the the last few weeks. Let me site some specific examples. 1. He has no fear: He will get hurt doing something like jumping off a very high playground toy and then after he is done crying he will try to jump off it again. 2. He is not effected by punishment: If he is put in timeout he will smile the entire time and then continue his inappropriate behavior. 3. He is sneaky: He will act very nice and cute and come give me a hug, so I will pick him up and then he will start to hit me in the face with a toy or some other hard object and then start to laugh.
Because, of Calvin's behavior I have been thinking does his name have anything to do with this? We did name him after Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, because we thought he was funny, but I see now that when children misbehave or act crazy it is funny only when you are on the outside looking in. I was also thinking that the way Calvin acts must have been similar to Chris's behavior, so maybe there is something with the C sound that inspires misbehavior in children.
I have decided to analyze Calvin's name further.
1. Calvinitouse Definition: Derived from John Calvin's' surname(Jean Chauvin). It was latinized and turned into the English version Calvin (meaning Bald). My first thought was this does not apply, but then I recalled his first name was really Thomas.
2. Living up to your name: My next step was to see if Calvin lived up to his name sake's
A. John Calvin: Leader of the Protestant Reformation: Check (He is a rebel)
B. Calvin and Hobbes: Check (He is a trouble maker)
C. John Calvin Coolidge: Check (Both use their middle name)
D. Calvin Klein: Check (Both know what they want and stop at nothing to get it)
C. Let's not forget Calvin's surname Clark...need I say more. He lives up to it in every way.
So, is there something in a name? Apparently in the name Calvin there is an extremely strong willed boy who is hyper and at the same time too lovable. Often when he is misbehaving Celine and I have to hide our faces so he doesn't see us laughing. I don't think Calvin would smell as sweet with any other name and I am glad for who he is.
This analyses and an experience I had the other day made be internalize this topic. I was at a meeting for new faculty at the KOC school where we took turns and told our names and what the names mean and a story about how we got our names. I said, "Hi my name is Peter Clark and my first name means Rock and my surname I thinks used to mean Clerk, but I am not sure. Then I said I don't have a good story behind my name, because I am 1 of 11 and my parents got tired and just started to give us names at random." (This got a good chuckle) It was through this that I thought names are really important in defining who we are. Maybe at first we are defined by our names: like Celine, because of her name people used to think she was French and now that we are in Turkey people think she is Turkish, because Selin is a very popular name here. (and she looks like a Turk). Although in the beginning and before people know us our names often define us, but later we are the ones who define our names. When Calvin is older he will decide what to do with the name we gave him. I can't wait (but maybe I should) to find out who Thomas Calvin Clark ends up to be.
Further Research: Calvin was the 220th most popular name in 2006 and Jacob was number 1. There were 1,624 babies named Calvin (Pedro beat him by 1) which is 0.0753% of the population. Calvin started out as the 100th most popular name in 1800 and had a steady decent until 1919 to 163 then his popularity hit his peak in 1924 at 44th, but then continued a steady decline to 220th in 20006.
"Good will, like a good name, is got by many actions, and lost by one." Lord Jeffrey
What do you think is in a name?
