I had the very great pleasure last week of joining ABC Radio National’s Life Matters for a talkback about names, nicknames and pseudonyms — live via Skype from my hotel room in San Francisco.
“What’s in a name?” We have heard these famous words of Shakespeare’s many times, but have you ever considered just how much of our identities are wrapped up in our names?
It’s often the first thing we’re asked. It’s how we identify ourselves to others. But do you like the name you’ve been given? Are your parents to blame, do you think?
You have the ability to change it — would you? Have you? Have you taken your partner’s surname? Is your name hard to pronounce? Do you constantly correct people on how to say or spell it?
Maybe you have a nickname which has basically become your ‘real’ name? How did you get it? Do you use it to go online to chat or date anonymously? Or on social media?
I smile at the title of the session, because that was also used as the headline for my story for ABC’s The Drum last year.
Here’s the full hour of the program, embedded from the ABC website.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (25.4MB)
Obviously the audio is ©2012 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
[Photo: Live from San Francisco: me at my desk at the Omni San Francisco Hotel connecting to ABC Radio National in Australia via Skype.]
Love the pic.
@Sylmobile: Thanks, though I’m not at all happy with the lighting. I was using my Nikon Coolpix S8100 compact camera and the program for backlit portraits, but the flash fill still wasn’t strong enough to overcome the morning light reflecting off the office buildings outside. Since it began as a quick self-portrait before going live on ABC Radio National, and red-light time was approaching, well, this we good enough.