Do you take this woman...
I grew up Debby Jane Hansen. I had 2 friends, Jane Louise Benson and Mary Louise Buck. It was funny the ties that our names gave us.
Then came the day shortly before I was to be married. Mom told me the name on my wedding license had to be something different. Not the Hansen I was used to, but Burke. Oh my friends & I could have had 1 more link - Burke, Benson, Buck.
I was so linked to my Norwegian heritage - lefse, krumkaka, sundbakkles...What is my real heritage? What baked goodies tie me to “Burke”?
That’s a journey I have struggled with for years. Who am I? No, who am "I" really? If not the very American, modern Norwegian, Lutheran I thought I was. How about the Irish, Catholic, beer drinker I could have been? Or maybe I was. Was I both? I like both lefse and beer, but not at the same time. I have pondered this many times when asked my name. Even now when I think of my friends. What would it be, Deb Brandner, Jayne Benson, Mary Geatz?
Are we how we make ourselves, or we more who we were? (Let me try that again —Are we who we have become or are we whom we were?)
How does a name affect our personalities, our character, our being?
Are Norwegians dumb? Are Germans really stubborn? Oh... I need a beer!
Then came the day shortly before I was to be married. Mom told me the name on my wedding license had to be something different. Not the Hansen I was used to, but Burke. Oh my friends & I could have had 1 more link - Burke, Benson, Buck.
I was so linked to my Norwegian heritage - lefse, krumkaka, sundbakkles...What is my real heritage? What baked goodies tie me to “Burke”?
That’s a journey I have struggled with for years. Who am I? No, who am "I" really? If not the very American, modern Norwegian, Lutheran I thought I was. How about the Irish, Catholic, beer drinker I could have been? Or maybe I was. Was I both? I like both lefse and beer, but not at the same time. I have pondered this many times when asked my name. Even now when I think of my friends. What would it be, Deb Brandner, Jayne Benson, Mary Geatz?
Are we how we make ourselves, or we more who we were? (Let me try that again —Are we who we have become or are we whom we were?)
How does a name affect our personalities, our character, our being?
Are Norwegians dumb? Are Germans really stubborn? Oh... I need a beer!
posted by Deb | 9:41 AM
6 Comments:
Are we defined by our name and heritage or do we define or heritage? I think due to the melting pot that our nation has become every generation is less and less defined by heritage. "American" will someday be a nationality. Still today in Greenland people are named with a sir-name that tells you who their father is, i.e. Mitch Benson really is Mitch, the son of Ben. That is carrying on a lineage. Greenland is also a country of only 100-200K people. Mom, you have a very unique situation that is difficult to relate to. But, it is my opinion that we are defined by others as who we are today and we are defined by ourselves as the person we hope to be. It is my hope that they match.
What in the #&*% are you people talking about?
In my Norweigen thinking your name would really be Mitch Davidson...depicting your father. I at one point would have been Debby Edwardaughter, but yeah I get your drift. I am trying to be who I choose be. AND how I choose to be remembered.
Chad....who would you be if your name was Tyrone Black or maybe Hushpup Littlebird? That's what were talking about, what does our name mean to us or do for us. What was that name I thought would be cute for your new baby and you said that it sounded to ethnic?
Who would I be if I were Hushpup Littlebird? I would be that guy I guess. A name is a name. It is what you make of that name that anyone cares about. Kennedy is one of those names that is what it is because of what they did with the name. I would guess that somewhere along the line one of the Kennedys was a bootlegger. Hilton used to be thought of as a successful business name but now it is thought of as a trashy, sleezy, no talent kind of a name. It takes a very long time to "make a name" but it takes only one bad decision to drive that name into the ground.
You are a deep thinker these days. Nature or nurture? Genetics vs. enviornment. There are thousands of books on the topic if you are interested in research. I have the same name issues...the same heritage issues. The only name that was ever really mine is the one I have now. Funny..its English and I have not a drop of English in me. (English food is terrible, the weather is terrible..I do like the early American historical link.) I think people should be able to reinvent themselves at will. Have some fun with it.
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