Mona Lisa!
By Peter Vakunta, Ph.D.
What’s in a name?
A name is everything!
There’s nothing more important
Than a person’s birth name.
How sad that we constantly toy
With nomenclature!
Oftentimes for flimsy reasons.
People are dead uncomfortable
In their real names!
They tinker them in order to
Adorn names devoid of meaning!
Elizabeth has become Beth;
Susan has metamorphosed into Sue;
Patricia has been rebaptized Pat alias Patty;
Christopher has been transformed into Chris;
Peter is now Pete;
Michael is Mike;
Charles is Chuck,
Mona Elisabeth is now Mona Lisa;
William has become Bill.
And the list continues.
Why are we doing this?
We make others feel
Like human counterfeits!
The art of naming
Is of such crucial importance
That linguistic gurus have coined
A term for it—onomastics
Do you know what’s done
To folks who bear tongue-twisting names,
Like Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenberg?
We ignore them altogether?
Isn’t that smart?
Listen, people’s names are their most
Priced gifts from birth.
Let’s steer clear of trifling with them.
The sweetest music to our ears
Is without an iota of doubt our names.
We have no carte blanche to
Mess with names regardless of origin.
©Vakunta 2022
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