What's in a Name?

Lasty, our aptly-named Subaru in 2008

Have you heard?  Macedonia is changing its name, and it's being met with mixed (and violent) response.  It highlights the importance of names.

Names appear to matter a good deal.  They're imbued with meaning, trigger emotional responses, and (in the case of Macedonia) can even bar entry into national alliances.  In the Bible, there are several instances of God dictating or changing names; clearly, they matter. Why?

Frankly, I don't know.  Yet I know they do.  Naming something- even an object- makes us act differently toward it.  Farmers are cautioned against naming their livestock for this reason; perhaps names indicate relationship.  And that brings me to a much less serious topic (but one that got me thinking about this in the first place): naming vehicles.

Every car I've owned has had a name.  Gold 1. Tiggy.  Lasty (shown above).  And our two current vehicles, Phantom and Ghost Rider. 

Ghost Rider is the latest addition, joining the family when Tiggy died last fall.  To name her, we went through a fun process.  We generated 32 names (below), then paired them off.  The family voted on each matchup, with the winner advancing playoff-style to the next round, until Ghost Rider won.  Several other finalists:
- Shadowfax (the car is white, but not fast, so the lord of horses didn't seem appropriate)
- Subie Doo (a Subaru, I was really rooting for this take on Scooby Doo)
- Shifty or Clutch (a manual transmission, this seemed appropriate)

I wished I had an answer on why names matter, but they do.  So name your stuff!  You may find changes how you look at your possessions.  And you might get some funny looks, too.

Bella
Oakenshield
Shadowfax
Shifty
Clutch
Stormtrooper
Pegasus
Ghost Rider
Penny
Weiss Geist
Subie Doo
Nittany
Skeleton (or skeletor)
Saoirse
Bones or "Boney"
Dusty
Monte Cristo
The Count
Vodo-Siosk Baas
Sunrider
Specter
Banshee
Boo
Ghost
Serra
Geist
Endurance
Traveler
Lightmaker
Falcon
Eagle
Redemption