What's in a Name?

It has been said that a rose, by any other name, will still smell as sweet. That is, a rose is a rose is a rose. And a horse is a horse of course of course. These beauties here are named wonderfully. Lyra, Dante and ........... I must leave a blank here as I'm afraid I'm drawing one for the other's name at the moment. Horses, not being subject to the same struggles as humans, are not likely to be so much affected by their given names. On the other hoof, Lyra is a name that suits this gorgeous animal. Dante is huge, strong, powerful! I really wonder, how does this happen? What chain of events, what energy is being manifested to draw a quality in a word to a person? And just how do we assign a quality to a word anyway? Sure, we have long and short vowels, and hard and soft consonents. But have you ever noticed that names have a propensity to affect your lot in life. Name a boy Peter, for example, and do you think perhaps he may end up in journalism? We certainly have a lot of Peter's there. Or driving dump trucks? What about Tom? A crusty alcoholic, perhaps a singer? Hmmmm... Strong names, weak names....I sometimes wonder...salt of the earth names, good solid trustworthy names that have stood the test of time? What about John? Now there is someone you can depend on. How about Mary? Same thing there, but some Mary's I have known, seem, well, a little shifty....Why are all the Julies and Julias extraverted? What will happen to the next generation of names when we'll have Apples and Oranges and Gangsta's running the country? What images are conjured up with the name Helvetica? What do you think?

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