There's power in words. Perhaps more than we care to remember. I recall when I was still living in the dorms at college my RA decided to post the meaning of the names of each of her residence on their front door, and I was struck by how--without necessarily knowing those meanings--how well each well one suited their owner.
My name is from the Greek for "defender of mankind". How to protect those closest to me, how to be strong and how to serve and provide for those weaker than myself have always been the existential concerns of my life. I was named for rulers and generals, and I have always striven to live up to that.
I wonder whether when meaning is uncovered, it provides a certain slant to what we already know. Or if there's power in the act of naming in and of itself. I've heard it said that we process emotion in our native language. It makes me wonder if someone somewhere in China is feeling something I've never experienced for the simple fact that person is of a culture that felt that particular sentiment was compelling enough to be codified in some way that mine has not. And if so, does the lack of codification mean that I'm incapable of experiencing that sentiment, or is it simply one that occurs in a blind spot? Mislabled and therefore missed altogether.
So it goes with names. If my name honored life itself as my sister's does, then would I be more vivacious? Or would my vivaciousness simply be more outstanding? Having become a name I don't know myself otherwise, and frankly (and this may be more to the point) such that I am don't necessarily care.
Interesting how our name is interpreted as conqueror, vanquisher, and defender at the same time, and I find that to be highly representative of those who bear it as well.
Hm. I have a rather 'ordinary' name. It was given to me for no other reason than that my mother liked the sound if it. It's common and unremarkable. I share it with a great many other people. I don't really give it much thought. I'm happy my name is simple enough that it doesn't get butchered by other anglophones.