What Does Your Name Mean?

I’ve spent a large part of my life not even thinking about the meaning of my name. I believed that my name was so arbitrary that I’ve shortened it to something else for around 10 years now.

I’ve never thought about the fact that names can have significant meanings and potentially impact one’s life, the way others view me, and how I choose to tackle the world.

I suppose Victoria could mean victory, but I never conciously connected the dots between this meaning and my overarching goals within this particular lifetime. Maybe I am, in a way, living a victorious life by working tirelessly to follow my dreams no matter how unrealisitic or seemingly impossible they may be. Maybe my approach is relentless, stopping at nothing to get all that I want and need out of life to be fulfilled. In a sense, perhaps I am striving to achieve Victory without even knowing it.

Sometimes people have last names that indicate what their ancestors did for work. I.e. Butcher, Builder, Smith, etc. And this could potentially also show the social or economic standing of our families over the course of history. Maybe if your name has been passed down through multiple generations (although this is way more common for men, at least in the American culture), you will see a long lineage that connects you to your ancestors in some fundamental way (John Smith the first, second, third, etc). Maybe part of your goals in life, whether or not you are completely aware of it, include passing this same legacy down to your children and beyond.

I recently made a new friend in South Africa named ‘Nkululeko Sphamandla’ which directly means ‘Freedom Give Us Power’ in Zulu, one of the major languages of this area. He was born not long after the fall of Apartheid and said that Nkululeko (Freedom) was a common name given to children to celebrate this momentus period in history.

In this culture, someone’s name is extremely significant because the words have distinct definitions in the languages they speak. It seems that nearly everyone grows up casually knowing multiple languages. It’s not uncommon to find someone who can speak anywhere from 3-7 of the official languages of South Africa.

So, growing up, he heard Freedom all the time. People referred to him as Freedom and he saw himself as this. Now, in his early 20s, he says that Freedom is one of his most important values in life, hoping to structure it in such a way that maximizes the amount he has.

One’s name could also impact the way in which others treat you and the sort of connotations they’ve built around particular names, whether or not they are conciously aware of it. But, he also said that, in this culture, one’s name is extrordinarily significant and something that is nearly always on people’s minds.

It’s incredible how much these slight cultural differences impact not only how we view ourselves, but also how we interact with our communities, socieities, and ultimately impact our very tradjectories in life. I’m excited to continue learning about the culture here and analyzing the obvious, as well as covert, differences between how I view the world through my own limited and incomplete perspective and how others do so through their different, but also ultimately narrow points of view.

Maybe as I begin to understand cultures that are not my own, I will be able to connect the dots, understanding a fuller scope of humanity, understanding how one’s geography, culture, and history can impact their thoughts and feelings and use this information to uncover some greater truth about the meaning of life.