WHAT"S IN A NAME?

I think it was Shakespeare that didn't think a name was very important. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," he wrote. Correct me if I'm wrong.

How a human can remember the names of everything they know and everybody they know is beyond me. And we remember the names of people we saw in movies or TV or on the Post Office Wanted Posters. I have to confess, I am beginning to have a hard time remembering names of famous people due to old age. My old age, not their's.

I said to my hubby once a long time ago, "I don't like telling anybody that my name is Smith."

"People think I'm lying."

Smith is your name, not mine! How would you like to have to have my maiden surname as your last name just because you married me?"

He wasn't going to bothered with such a silly question, so I got no comment. Things have changed for the better in today's world!!!

Well, what if his last name had been Temple, and my first name was Shirley? I'd have to go around telling people that my name was Shirley Temple, and I would die of embarrassment.

Or what if his last name had been Mylzinkomakovich? If someone asked me my name, I would just say, "None of your beeswax!" Or "Who wants to know?" Or lie and say "Mary Jones."

Anyway, I wanted my own name back, but of course, I couldn't get it. Then something wonderful happened! I saw my grandmother's death certificate dated April, 1910 and her father's name was written on it. His name was Smith!!

I am entitled to the name Smith even if he didn't marry my grandmother's mother. His appendix ruptured and he died before they could tie the knot. Well, that's one story, anyway. So I feel a little better now about using the Smith name. Of course, maybe they just put Smith on the death certificate and it wasn't true at all. But then, "What's in a name?"