authority over using personal names

We’re dealing with power when we use names, reinforcing certain kinds of authority and inequality. You’ve got your ancestors with you in your psyche when you use your last name, your brothers and sisters. To have only a first name is a sign of being a peasant, a slave, an oppressed person …

We’re all now first-name people …

It’s an interesting, very significant detail that in the tribal societies, which we think have the least individuality, people have the most individual names. One-of-a-kind names that come from their dreams or their actions, which are rarely repeated or handed down because they’re so individual. It’s as though, because the community shares so much and because so much is handed down through the community, individuality is treated with more respect.

linked mentions for "authority over using personal names":

1. levavot

   I was given the name “Gleb” at birth, this is my legal first name today. The old and fairly rare East Slavic name “Гълѣбъ” of Nordic origin, where

2. say my name

   Will the real Mr. White, please stand up.