Day 16

Names have a mysterious reality of their own. We may well feel an unexpected kinship with someone who shares our name, or may feel uneasy at the thought that our name is not as much our own as we imagined. Most of us do not choose our names; they come to us unbidden, sometimes with ungainly sounds and spellings, complicated family histories, allusions to people we never knew. Sometimes we have to make our peace with them, sometimes we bask in our names' associations. Ruminate on names and naming, your name, and your name's relationship to you. (University of Chicago)

What’s in a name? Yes, the often-quoted line of Shakespeare declared that names don’t matter. But they do.

My name is Alexandra Katherine Gore. I rather like it. It may be a little too long for writing on tests when I’m rushed for time, but I can always abbreviate with Alex. My last name may mean blood and guts, and I may have an ugly signature, since I don’t think capital cursive G’s are very pretty, but I would never change my name. I couldn’t imagine myself being called Rachel or Jeanette or Suzie. I’m an Alexandra. My name just seems right to me. I know there are others like me; some send friend requests on Facebook, but I just reject those requests. I don’t feel a need to connect with them; they’re strangers.

Sometimes classmates ask me if I’m related to Al Gore, the politician and environmentalist. I’ll say he’s my grandpa, or my uncle, or something, but they’ll know I’m lying. I’m a terrible liar, and liable to burst out laughing by the end of my story.

I’m okay with the connection with Al Gore. Besides, my friends even call me “Al Gore”, a little nickname for no reason in particular. It’s a strange nickname, as far as nicknames go, and it does tend to confuse others when my friends shout it out in the street or at an event. I don’t mind. It makes me happy to be associated with a Nobel Peace prizewinner, even if I’m just a high school student.

Alexandra may sound like such a long name, but it’s not that difficult to pronounce. Unless, you’re three years old. When I was little and I used to play with one of my best friends that my mom helped take care of, he called me “Zsha-Zsha”. You can interpret the correct pronunciation of that however you wish. However, it is only correctly pronounced with the enunciation of a 3 year old.