How Important is a name?

           How important is a name? Does a name somehow ground us to some reality? Are we shaped by our name and what it comes to stand for? I heard a story recently that addressed these questions.  The story pertained to the importance of a name. A young man in his third year of college interned for the governor of Michigan. He worked for the governor’s staff carrying out various tasks, after a couple weeks he was asked to write a public announcement. The day after he wrote it he was walking down the street and saw his press release all over the newspapers. It occurred to him that everyone who read the paper would be reading his words as the governors. As his internship continued he became astounded by the power of the governor’s name. If he wrote a letter to a mayor it would likely be ignored, yet if it had the governors signature it would receive immediate attention. That summer he discovered the power of the governor’s name.

 A name can have great significance. Sometimes we can tell a persons ethnicity or religion from a name. Some people don’t like their name; perhaps their name is connected with awful memories. Others change their names to reinvent themselves such as actors and musicians.

We are all given a name at birth and to some extent that name gives us an identity. To other people our names are directly connected with our character and actions. When we here the name of a friend we can visualize many aspects of that friend. We can remember memories growing up; we can recall times that there was conflict. In many ways our name is the anchor of our identity.

   In Bharati Muherjee’s book, Jasmine, the main character changes not only names numerous times but the separate identities that went along with them. Jasmine was born, “in a makeshift birthing hut in Hasnapur, Jullundhar District, Punjab, India…If I had been a boy, my birth in a bountiful year would have marked me as lucky, a child with a special destiny to fulfill. But daughters were curses.” (39) Jasmine’s birth name was Jyoti. The name Jyoti was tainted with the stigma of a cursed life controlled by fate.

Later on in the book she receives her second name, Jasmine. She receives the name Jasmine from her husband, “To break of the past, he gave me a new name: Jasmine.” (77) Her husband, Prakash Vijh, wanted to, “breakdown the Jyoti [she’d] been in Hasnapur and make [her] a new kind of city woman.” (77) She assumes the role of the supportive wife and with it the name Jasmine. Jasmine’s husband had plans to move to America were he could make a better life for the both of them.  

Later on in the book Prakash is killed in an explosion. Jasmine decides to follow through with Prakash’s plan, “Prakash had taken Jyoti and created Jasmine, and Jasmine would complete the mission of Prakash.” (97) She decides to move to America. She travels to America on a fisherman’s trawler. The captain of the ship is an evil man and abuses Jasmine. She names him Half-face because he is badly disfigured. Half-face rapes Jasmine, she assumes a new name/persona for this scene. She becomes Kali the Hindu goddess of death and destruction. She cuts her tongue and slits Half-face’s throat.

Next, Jasmine is given a new name by a man named Taylor. After Jasmine was rapped she eventually made it to New York were she worked as a nanny. Eventually, after sometime “Taylor called [her] ‘Jase’” (176) a pet name that she liked. Jasmine talks about how she feels different as either persona, “Jasmine lived for the future, for Vijh & Wife. Jase went to movies and lived for today.”(176) while Jasmine takes on the role of Jase she is more adventuresome and carefree. After the name Jase, Jasmine moves to one final name.

Upon seeing the man who murdered her husband, Jasmine moves away from New York. She moves to Iowa and moves in with a banker named Bud. Bud gives her a new name he “calls [her] Jane.” (26) While with Bud Jasmine becomes a homemaker. They decided to adopt a child from Vietnam. She adapts and takes on the persona of wife and caretaker.

It is interesting to see how easily Jasmine changes from persona to persona. It seems that this is caused by her belief that, “We must murder who we were so we can rebirth ourselves in the images of dreams.”(29) Jasmine thinks to change ourselves we must totally change our past selves. Part of Jasmine’s changing of names/identities stems from her belief about America. She believes that, “In America, nothing lasts. I can say that now and it doesn’t shock me…Nothing is forever, nothing is so terrible, or so wonderful, that it won’t disintegrate.” (181) Jasmine has such a bleak outlook on life.

When I ask someone there name, they simply tell me their name. By doing this they are defining who they are. With the declaration of their name comes all the past experiences and memories that comes with it. I asked Jasmine her name she would tell me, “I am anyone I want to be, nothing is sacred, and we must always be willing to rearrange the stars.” Our name’s hold power over our self perception and others perception of us. Not having a name to anchor us to our identity is living without one.