If We Named Ourselves

Generally, we don't get to chose our own name. Sure, you can legally change your name to pretty much anything you want, including Max Power. But most of us tend to stick with the moniker our folks chose, possibly with the addition of a married name. We make peace with it and/or learn to love it, if we didn't before, and that's that. I'm fine with Jami now, though I still maintain that it's a nickname and I always wished for a "full" name, sigh, oh well. I think Jami looks cute typed and written. My middle, maiden and married names all also have 4 letters, making me a perfect square, at least name-wise. It's quick to write and even though old people tend to call me Janey or Jenny, most people don't say "WHAT?" when I introduce myself. BUT, if I'd named myself, it would have been at about age 4 when I decided that I was Cynthia (Cindy for short). I refused to answer to Jami, only one of the aforementioned names. I wrote "Cindy" in my coloring books and on my "papers" from playing school. My mother began to worry about how she'd explain to the kindergarten teacher that even though my name technically was Jami, she'd have to call me Cindy if she wanted an answer. Long story short, the situation resolved itself before school started, and instead of me, a life-sized doll answered to "Cynthia" (well, not really answered, but you know what I mean). Some days I wonder what would have become of me had my parents let me keep the more girly "Cynthia" and ditch the possibly unisex "Jami/Jamie/Jamey . . ." Would I have become more perky and bubbly as Cindy? A cheerleader and the Prom Queen? Would I have shown a stronger interest in name-brand jeans and eyelash curlers? We all know about Shakespeare and the rose is a rose . . . blah blah blah, but how can I be sure? Like it or not, you have an expectation of someone, however weak and changeable, based on their name. So would I still be ME as Cindy or would I have been some other me? We'll never know. If you'd named yourself, who would you be?