Definition Essay: The Power Of Personal Identity

Everything that exists has a name attached to it. You are given your name at the start of life, and naming a baby is globally essential. It is used to claim property and sign checks. Your personal identity has a significant role in molding your future. People often examine the meaning of their names and the reasons they were named, but they seldom consider the significant impact the power of their name has had on their life.
I have felt resentment towards my name because people have difficulty pronouncing it. In school I waited wearily for the next mispronunciation. Imagine the chagrin I felt as teachers stopped trying to pronounce my first name in favor of my last. Imagine my indignance when they pronounced that wrong too! My parents’ fixation on recurring motifs led them to give my sisters and I all the same initials. I felt that I couldn’t separate my identity from that of my younger siblings. As children, we were perfectly content to share a room, clothes, and even friends. Eventually, I began to crave singularity. Hearing my mother and other adults talk about me as if I were an anomaly gave me the impression that I was smart. This is the image that I clung to. From elementary school onward, I was the smart one. Once I had a modifier that I liked, I was more comfortable with my name. For the first time I was what my name means.
My parents appeared as oracles in naming me.
My first name is Hebrew for “bright light”.
My middle name has a Greek origin and means “victory of the people”. With full awareness of these meanings, my parents clearly showed that they had high expectations for their firstborn child. Perhaps in choosing my name, my parents expected me to have the qualities that my names imply: strength and leadership. More likely, my parents chose my names because the combination of the uniqueness of my first name and the commonness of my middle name provided balance, along with alliteration. Whatever their intentions in naming me were, I feel some pressure to live up to the names that I was
given.
In going to college, I can fulfill the prophecies set by my first and middle names. I could become a beacon for my siblings and blaze a trail for them to follow. I can continue the trend that my father started by being the first in his family to graduate high school and going to college, and thus extend his victory with a triumph of my own. A few weeks ago, I was discussing with my mother that while I am not technically a first generation college student, I will be the first woman in my family to graduate from high school and pursue my dreams at the collegiate level. When I succeed, my success will be shared with her.
My last name is the German word for potter. I got this name by a decision of my great-grandmother and have no actual blood connection to it. Although I am not actually related to any person named Haeffner, the name is still a part of my life experience and its meaning has a role in my path. Like my craftsman namesake, I am, along with my family, sculpting new paths and traditions. Everything that we have is our own, and our obligation is to establish our own legacy. For my siblings I am an example to follow. For my parents I am evidence of their success. I am crafting my own path in life. A reflection of the potter crafting artwork. Perhaps it is more likely that my parents named me for what they hoped I would become. The fulfillment of their prophecy has been set in motion.