To Change a Name

One aspect of names that interests me very much is the way that they can change over the course of a person's life. When children are very young, people often refer to them by nicknames or "pet" names. These names can be closely related to the child's actual name, or have no relation to it at all. This phenomenon seems to coincide with the philosophy behind modern childhood, as defined by the prologue to Huck's Raft. Stephen Mintz says that children were considered "innocent, malleable, and fragile creatures who needed to be sheltered from contamination". I believe that when a parent or other adult calls a child by a pet name, they are treating them as if they are not yet mature enough to bear their full name.This said, I think that nicknaming a child helps adults to become closer to the child on a more personal level earlier on in their life. I do not think that this is necessarily a bad thing, so long as the nicknaming ends before adolescence. 
       On the topic of adolescents, we also use nicknames, but I think that it is for a diferent reason than parents do. The reason why teens give themselves and their friends nicknames relates to the first question on our childhood opinionaire: Are children their parents' possessions? Teens make efforts to become their own people, and therefore feel the need to remove themselves from their parents and take charge of their own lives to a greater extent. Giving alternate names does exactly this.
        I have personal experience with this. When I was in third grade, I decided that I wanted to change my name from Nicole to Lizzy, after my middle name, Eizabeth. I went to my parents one day and informed them of this, and I must admit that I think they thought it was just a phase that I was going through. So, to make sure that I really cared about doing this, they told me that I was allowed to change my name, as long as I wrote personal letters to all of my teachers and relatives, explaining the situation to them. Apparently, I really did care, so I wrote the letters and everyone now calls me Lizzy.
     I was a very independent child, and although I do not remember third grade very well, there is no doubt in my mind that I did this to take more charge of my own name, and therefore my own life.
       The final instance when a name changes is usually around the time that a person gets married. In America, the norm is that the woman takes her husband's last name, and his name is passed on to all of their children. To me, this seems to go back to the times when a woman would go off to join her husband's family (along with a dowry) and often never see her family again. It implies some ownership and dominance that the man has over the woman.
      One of the adults in my life that I think has the coolest name actually changed his first name, then took his wife's family name when they married. Against the grain? Yes. But it defines him as a person and I believe that he would be a very different person today if he had not done this. 
     So, what's in a name? Quite a lot.