I never really liked my government name. It’s a special name because there’s a space between the letters of my first name. Not a hyphen, just a space.

Your Name is an emo Japanese anime movie. This post isn’t about that. But maybe it’s a little emo.

Example: Joseph versus Joe Seph.

Growing up my parents made me into an acronym. And when in school, I developed an alternate identity wherein I changed my name’s pronunciation. I also did this with work and my friends. In short: like the devil, I go by many names. And to this day I’m a little confused as to how to pronounce it (having never asked my parents, and them just going along with how I pronounced it in my voicemail).

I do believe that names carry identity. Too many nicknames (yes there’s such a thing as too many for me) dilutes one’s sense of self. This is because words illicit emotions: such as when you call someone “honey” versus “Dr. Strange”.

I suppose one of my goals is to make peace with the ‘space between’. It takes a lot of brain power to deconstruct my name. After all, no other question caused more confusion as a child as “What’s your name?”.

Funny. I just realized my *bias has a space between his name too. I wonder how he feels about millions of people ignoring that space, or if he cares at all. Hybe does him justice, as does the government for me.

Lalala. This post is just one big musing. Nothing to gain here. ILY, for reading it