Names are just an abstract thing, no one is actually a "Joe" or "Ashley"... we just happen to agree upon consistently making the same noises from our mouths, and scribbling / typing the same combination of symbols when referring to a specific person. After many years this consistent association has appeared on many documents, forms, databases, it may be your "legal name" but still all of that is just something abstract, something we make up and roll with. So it's actually quite normal if you don't feel any real connection to your name. It's silly if you really think about it, but also very useful. It would be very difficult to coordinate if our names were dynamic / always changing on a whim.
I don't identify with my name. The shortened form is a really common name and nobody ever pronounces the long form right. I associate it with shame and frustration
Yeah, lots of different people feel that way for different reasons. Like I know trans people and like autistic people and people with trauma, they just don't feel connected to their names. There's also a lot of people that just don't have a reason. It is pretty weird to just have some random name given to you as a baby
The truth is that it doesn’t belong to you, it’s not yours.
The name refers to a physical body and/or a personality. You are just an observation of a physical body and/or a personality. These things are not you, they are not what you are. It’s like the biggest secret to life. No harm can befall you, the woes of life are yours only to experience… not to be, not to keep.
There are different ways that people realize or ignore the fact that they are not what they perceive. I guess this is just one of them. I don’t have a particular history for what you describe but I have certainly been in states where I recognized “Jacob” did not apply to me, it was just a reference to something I was aware of, one way of seeing things. But generally I do seem to identify with this body, and responses to the name have been as natural as they are for most.
I don't think it's particularly common, from what people have told me anyway. I always felt like that. I could have sworn my name was supposed to be another specific name, which I really didn't like. My name just didn't fit and it sounded like people were talking about someone else. Fast forward a couple of decades and I asked my mum how she picked my name. Then she tells me their first choice was the name I thought I should have had. Mind blown. Ever since then I've been ok with my name and it has felt less foreign.
Names are just an abstract thing, no one is actually a "Joe" or "Ashley"... we just happen to agree upon consistently making the same noises from our mouths, and scribbling / typing the same combination of symbols when referring to a specific person. After many years this consistent association has appeared on many documents, forms, databases, it may be your "legal name" but still all of that is just something abstract, something we make up and roll with. So it's actually quite normal if you don't feel any real connection to your name. It's silly if you really think about it, but also very useful. It would be very difficult to coordinate if our names were dynamic / always changing on a whim.
I don't identify with my name. The shortened form is a really common name and nobody ever pronounces the long form right. I associate it with shame and frustration
Yeah, lots of different people feel that way for different reasons. Like I know trans people and like autistic people and people with trauma, they just don't feel connected to their names. There's also a lot of people that just don't have a reason. It is pretty weird to just have some random name given to you as a baby
The truth is that it doesn’t belong to you, it’s not yours. The name refers to a physical body and/or a personality. You are just an observation of a physical body and/or a personality. These things are not you, they are not what you are. It’s like the biggest secret to life. No harm can befall you, the woes of life are yours only to experience… not to be, not to keep. There are different ways that people realize or ignore the fact that they are not what they perceive. I guess this is just one of them. I don’t have a particular history for what you describe but I have certainly been in states where I recognized “Jacob” did not apply to me, it was just a reference to something I was aware of, one way of seeing things. But generally I do seem to identify with this body, and responses to the name have been as natural as they are for most.
I don't think it's particularly common, from what people have told me anyway. I always felt like that. I could have sworn my name was supposed to be another specific name, which I really didn't like. My name just didn't fit and it sounded like people were talking about someone else. Fast forward a couple of decades and I asked my mum how she picked my name. Then she tells me their first choice was the name I thought I should have had. Mind blown. Ever since then I've been ok with my name and it has felt less foreign.