Your name has a meaning, do you know what it is ?

Hi my name is Arey.

This is what I used to say to everyone I met when I first moved to Canada. Let’s get this out of the way first and then you will see where I am going with this post.

My first name is Lev; in Russian it means Lion. I gave myself a middle name when we moved from Lithuania to Israel, Aria. Aria means Lion in Hebrew. When I moved to Canada I felt I wanted a unique name, a name that no one else had.

So I gave my self the name Arey. Cool right? At the time I was so adamant about my name being one of a kind. I wanted to feel special, I didn’t want to be Lev. I felt Lev was too foreign and that my friends would not understand it.

I was worried I wouldn’t be accepted.

Do you ever feel this way? Worried that other people may judge you? That other people might bully you?

It felt empowering giving myself a name of my choice.

I was obsessed with the name I gave myself because I wanted people to remember who I was. I wanted people to hear my name and never forget it. My ego was budding.

Why did I get so hung up on changing my name?

I wasn’t trying to be someone else, it wasn’t difficult to spell. Lev meant something to me so I wanted to keep the meaning of the name the same.

I did a search on why people change their names and these are the top reasons my search yielded.

People change their names, according to Legal Zoom, BBC and other bloggers: Divorce, transgender, children taking name of mother or father, religious reasons, political statements, hard to spell or pronounce, changing identity/personality, a dare, celebrity stature, superstition.

Some people change their name due to negative association’s to a movie, or another person with the same name who committed a crime.

What do you think about name changes?

I read not to long ago about Jay Z trademarking his daughter’s name Blue Ivy. This is taking it to another height. Okay, your name is unique, I am sure there are not a lot of Blue Ivy’s in the same class room, or school. However, having that celebrity status some die hard fans would sure wittingly name their offspring’s or pets the same.

So here we have people changing their names or people copying other people’s names.

What’s wrong with the name we are given at birth? Isn’t this who we really are? Will a name change make a difference in your life? Will that make your life better or worse?

Difficult series of questions to answers. Questions that should be asked prior to the name change. Only you know the answers to these questions. Yes, you who wants your name changed.

When I changed my name to Arey, I was stunned to find other people named similar to mine in Canada. I surely wasn’t happy about it. I thought I was special, I thought I was unique. I thought I was one of a kind. How can this be?

How much does your name matter to you? If you sat in the same classroom with other Mark’s or Tom’s how would that make you feel?

Keith Ferrazi in his book Never Eat Alone explains that building rapport with others, people who have commonalities tend to let their guards down and are easily persuaded. People tend to be more likable when commonalties such as same or similar names are present.

Studies have been conducted by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson in the 1960’s to prove that names have a self-fulfilling prophecy. That children in school or society would perform better based on what their name or association to their name is.

Gary Garwood of Tulen University later conducted similar studies of names and personalities and came across similar founding’s, as did Orlo Strunk from West Virginia Wesleyan college.

Here is a quote from Orlo “There appears to be persistent tendencies for individuals who dislike their names to have less affirmative attitudes toward themselves then do those who like themselves.”

Recently I have been converting back to Lev. What struck me the most is that my girlfriend who I met 9 years ago is now confused about me introducing myself as Lev. She is confused because when we met I was Arey.

When I began using Lev again many people were confused, and some thought that people who only knew me as Lev weren’t actually talking about me but some other guy they thought whose name was Lev.

Did I set out purposely to fool everyone? Why did I start using Lev prominently again? Did I get sick of Arey and think the switch back was appropriate?

I wanted to think of it this way; Arey was for friends, Lev is for acquaintances and professionals.

As time moves on I am taking more of a chance on Lev than I am on Arey. Is Arey my counter part? Will Arey resurface again in the future?

Things to consider.

On a side note a friend of mine blended the two names together and called me Levari. He came into my life when the confusion was surmounting among my friends.

What I didn’t do is explain why Lev means something to me. It is my great grandfather’s name which was passed down through generations to me. I have never met my great grandfather, although apart of him remains with me.

It makes me feel special honoring his name.

What does your name mean to you?

Thank you for coming down this far and getting to know me a little bit more. Send me an email and tell me the story about your name and share this article with someone you know. To be continued….

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Hit the ❤ button below, it would mean a lot to me, so that others can see this too.

Originally published at karasingroup.com on August 10, 2016.