Love this and as I said on Part one of "Changing Names" (no reply from you; maybe I was off-point: and you got so many comments, were probably overwhelmed) so am pressed to repeat myself, if you'll forgive that, I hope: As I've written in the essay "Rugalach" in my collection of short stories: "I'm named for my grandmother, who died before I was born. ..." My mother would say, "“My father was a good man, but tough.” Then she’d look away as her eyes softened with thoughts of her mother. “Ah, she was an angel.” She’d turn that memory-warmed gaze on me. “What a name you have,” she’d say. And so my grandmother’s sweetness spread across me like a veil. An undeserved gift."
Mary, I've just replied to your previous comment, which I somehow missed (along with some others, it turned out). My apologies for not responding to such a wonderful comment! The quote from your essay is so beautiful: "my grandmother's sweetness spread across me like a veil" is just gorgeous.
I'm late to this post, as to the first one, but enjoyed it very much-- and learned so much from it and from the wide range of comments from all languages and cultures. Thanks! (with hands pressed emoji and a little bow)
This two-parter has been fascinating and educational. (And now I have some idea of when you lived in Turkey. :) Stories about names. There is a famous acting Adler family of the early mid-20th century, the most famous probably acting teacher, as well, Stella Adler. When I was in junior high school (middle school now in the U.S.) there were friends who knew of her older brother Luthor who began to call me Luthor, because that's what 14-year-old boys do. (They had an acting brother named Jay, too, but I wasn't yet using that name.) The most famous Luthor to 14-year-old boys at the time was villain Lex Luthor of Superman comics. So my nickname migrated to Lex. In my early 20s I switched to my middle name of Jay, which is what almost everyone who knows me in life knows me as. My family, however, stuck with my first name and its diminutive, which has caused some confusion for decades introducing me to strangers and who hear my family address me. I also adopted A. Jay Adler as my professional name, which often leaves people just getting to know me, especially on social media, at a loss about how to address me. Auto-generated mail and email is often addressed "Dear A."
Sometimes, when people ask me what the "A" stands for, I tell them "Auspicious."
This is delightful, Jay. Thank you for sharing this. It is beginning to seem that we can all get to know each other a bit better via our naming stories. And yes, I was a little stumped by that A at the beginning. Auspicious is a great response.
By the way, I'm just back from a business trip to Hong Kong. At a lunch I was reminded of the Australian winemaker' Penfolds’ Chinese name 奔富 or Benfu, meaning something like 'rushing after prosperity' . The Chinese people I was with were pretty sure that the name was part of the company's success in Mainland China.
I guess regardless of what language your original name is in, if you’re going somewhere else they’ll find a way to change it.
Born to Russian speaking Jews, I was given the name Anastasia Roitenberg , but since the sound я at the end of Russian Анастасия doesn’t exist in Latvian it was translated to Anastasija. Siri reads it as a soft G and makes me cringe haha
Female surnames in Latvian have to end in an A, so instead of Anastasia Roitenberg my government name is Anastasija Roitenberga, which drives me kind of mad. Even if I was to get a British passport it would stay this adapted Latvian version and if I want to have my real name be my even more real name, I’d have to legally change it.
At least I can have people call me whatever I want!
Thanks for reading and for your comment, Ani! Wow, your situation with your surname sounds so complicated! and it's fascinating that female surnames have to end in a. So do they basically decline, like nouns?
I do kinda feel like, as long as you know who you are, the label is kinda irrelevant anyway...
I don’t know if I conveyed that too well, but what you said reminded me of a post I wrote a little while ago about categories (and to some extent labels).
I’ll link it here if you want to have a look, but please don’t feel obliged :)
Michael, I didn't feel obliged, but I read it and left a comment on that brilliant post of yours. Thank you for sharing the link. And maybe it should become required reading for all the name callers and militant philosophical nativists out there?
The history of Katakana is very fascinating, really love Japanese history, and though I've only written a little about it on my own stack, definitely want to pursue it.
As to heading off to Egypt there's a grand adventure, Egypt lies at the heart of all men of scholarly interest in the past hundred years or so I think.
That said the Hollow Men poem is a haunting thing.
Your adaptibility and curiosity is quite extraordinary, Jeffrey - learning and becoming comfortable with new cultures is no easy task, I am reminded of my grandmother's world travels as a widow in the 1960s and 70s visiting Russia, China and many other places. She spoke English, Hungarian and German fluently, and was a great inspiration to me. Love hearing about your experiences and discoveries in new places.
Thank you, Troy! And thank you for sharing the experience of your grandmother, who sounds like an extraordinary woman. She must have had some amazing stories!
LOL. I would have given you the Chinese name 史杰夫. I’d leave it as a task for you to find out why :). P.S. I just came back from a 2+week trip in Shanghai, so I hope you’d find it interesting to read my next couple of postings, hopefully tomorrow I post the first one. 😉
Thank you! That's lovely! and very humbling. I'd love to have "history" in my name. And of course, 杰 is flattering. I guess 夫 here would be more in the sense of man than husband? It certainly seems to complete the sound of "jiefu" so well!
I'm really looking forward to hearing about your trip to Shanghai! I'm actually off to Hong Kong tomorrow myself.
Love this and as I said on Part one of "Changing Names" (no reply from you; maybe I was off-point: and you got so many comments, were probably overwhelmed) so am pressed to repeat myself, if you'll forgive that, I hope: As I've written in the essay "Rugalach" in my collection of short stories: "I'm named for my grandmother, who died before I was born. ..." My mother would say, "“My father was a good man, but tough.” Then she’d look away as her eyes softened with thoughts of her mother. “Ah, she was an angel.” She’d turn that memory-warmed gaze on me. “What a name you have,” she’d say. And so my grandmother’s sweetness spread across me like a veil. An undeserved gift."
Mary, I've just replied to your previous comment, which I somehow missed (along with some others, it turned out). My apologies for not responding to such a wonderful comment! The quote from your essay is so beautiful: "my grandmother's sweetness spread across me like a veil" is just gorgeous.
I'm late to this post, as to the first one, but enjoyed it very much-- and learned so much from it and from the wide range of comments from all languages and cultures. Thanks! (with hands pressed emoji and a little bow)
Thank you, Victoria. It's been a joy to receive that wide range of comments, including yours.
This two-parter has been fascinating and educational. (And now I have some idea of when you lived in Turkey. :) Stories about names. There is a famous acting Adler family of the early mid-20th century, the most famous probably acting teacher, as well, Stella Adler. When I was in junior high school (middle school now in the U.S.) there were friends who knew of her older brother Luthor who began to call me Luthor, because that's what 14-year-old boys do. (They had an acting brother named Jay, too, but I wasn't yet using that name.) The most famous Luthor to 14-year-old boys at the time was villain Lex Luthor of Superman comics. So my nickname migrated to Lex. In my early 20s I switched to my middle name of Jay, which is what almost everyone who knows me in life knows me as. My family, however, stuck with my first name and its diminutive, which has caused some confusion for decades introducing me to strangers and who hear my family address me. I also adopted A. Jay Adler as my professional name, which often leaves people just getting to know me, especially on social media, at a loss about how to address me. Auto-generated mail and email is often addressed "Dear A."
Sometimes, when people ask me what the "A" stands for, I tell them "Auspicious."
This is delightful, Jay. Thank you for sharing this. It is beginning to seem that we can all get to know each other a bit better via our naming stories. And yes, I was a little stumped by that A at the beginning. Auspicious is a great response.
By the way, I'm just back from a business trip to Hong Kong. At a lunch I was reminded of the Australian winemaker' Penfolds’ Chinese name 奔富 or Benfu, meaning something like 'rushing after prosperity' . The Chinese people I was with were pretty sure that the name was part of the company's success in Mainland China.
Sooooo interesting!
I guess regardless of what language your original name is in, if you’re going somewhere else they’ll find a way to change it.
Born to Russian speaking Jews, I was given the name Anastasia Roitenberg , but since the sound я at the end of Russian Анастасия doesn’t exist in Latvian it was translated to Anastasija. Siri reads it as a soft G and makes me cringe haha
Female surnames in Latvian have to end in an A, so instead of Anastasia Roitenberg my government name is Anastasija Roitenberga, which drives me kind of mad. Even if I was to get a British passport it would stay this adapted Latvian version and if I want to have my real name be my even more real name, I’d have to legally change it.
At least I can have people call me whatever I want!
Thanks for reading and for your comment, Ani! Wow, your situation with your surname sounds so complicated! and it's fascinating that female surnames have to end in a. So do they basically decline, like nouns?
They do! Male names and surnames have to end in S too, so you’d be Jeffrejs Streeters 😅
Actually I lied! You’d be džeffrejs strīters because of course the letters would be translated too 🤭🤭
Ooh, I like džeffrejs strīters. I want that name now!
I’m sure you’d be very welcome in Riga! It’s so cozy, beautiful, historic, names are funky! Not that I’m biased or anything
It sounds great!
This was so interesting, Jeffrey.
The story about being oblivious to your name being called before giving the speech was very funny.
And learning that when you went to China you was given a new name was fascinating.
Thanks :)
Thank you, Michael! I've certainly had fun with changes of name over the years. Though sometimes I feel almost nameless..
That makes sense.
I do kinda feel like, as long as you know who you are, the label is kinda irrelevant anyway...
I don’t know if I conveyed that too well, but what you said reminded me of a post I wrote a little while ago about categories (and to some extent labels).
I’ll link it here if you want to have a look, but please don’t feel obliged :)
https://open.substack.com/pub/thecuriousplatypus/p/the-duck-mole-paradoxus?r=28of53&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Michael, I didn't feel obliged, but I read it and left a comment on that brilliant post of yours. Thank you for sharing the link. And maybe it should become required reading for all the name callers and militant philosophical nativists out there?
Thanks you, Jeffrey. I really appreciate that. As for your required reading comment — that is just too kind. :)
The history of Katakana is very fascinating, really love Japanese history, and though I've only written a little about it on my own stack, definitely want to pursue it.
As to heading off to Egypt there's a grand adventure, Egypt lies at the heart of all men of scholarly interest in the past hundred years or so I think.
That said the Hollow Men poem is a haunting thing.
Thanks for your comment and for being. And Egypt is certainly wonderful!
Heureux d'entendre, glad to hear it!
Love the stories of names. This is a fun and meaningful exploration. ☺️
Thank you Kathleen. That means a lot coming from you.
Somewhere, I have a coffee mug with the Chinese name a colleague gave to me. If I can find it, I will share in notes sometime during your series 🤗
I look forward to seeing it!
Your adaptibility and curiosity is quite extraordinary, Jeffrey - learning and becoming comfortable with new cultures is no easy task, I am reminded of my grandmother's world travels as a widow in the 1960s and 70s visiting Russia, China and many other places. She spoke English, Hungarian and German fluently, and was a great inspiration to me. Love hearing about your experiences and discoveries in new places.
Thank you, Troy! And thank you for sharing the experience of your grandmother, who sounds like an extraordinary woman. She must have had some amazing stories!
LOL. I would have given you the Chinese name 史杰夫. I’d leave it as a task for you to find out why :). P.S. I just came back from a 2+week trip in Shanghai, so I hope you’d find it interesting to read my next couple of postings, hopefully tomorrow I post the first one. 😉
Hola , Tienes Una Fascinante Experiencia Con Tú Nombre , Se Nota Qué Has Viajado Y Vivido Mucho. Un Saludo.
Muchas gracias!
Thank you! That's lovely! and very humbling. I'd love to have "history" in my name. And of course, 杰 is flattering. I guess 夫 here would be more in the sense of man than husband? It certainly seems to complete the sound of "jiefu" so well!
I'm really looking forward to hearing about your trip to Shanghai! I'm actually off to Hong Kong tomorrow myself.