What's In a Label for a Noun?

Here is the first sentence of the Wikipedia page on names:

A name is a label for a noun, (human or animal, thing, place, product [as in a brand name] and even an idea or concept), normally used to distinguish one from another. 

There's something about names that is uncharted and unquestioned. What sparked my curiousity was when visiting the blog of John Green yesterday, I noticed one of the questions he answered was about names. Apparently in one of his books, the only one I've yet to read, one of the character's parents let her choose her own name. She named herself Alaska. John wrote that he thought this was irresponsible on the part of the parent, and it was an act of neglet to let your child choose their label. After some consideration I think I agree. It's a huge responsibility and then wouldn't some people then regret what name they had picked, if after a while they got bored of it. If you have a name you don't like you can usually blame it on your parents but in Alaska's case, it was her decision. It's an interesting topic. That got me thinking about another book with a character named Stargirl. She also picked her name, but it wasn't the first name people called her. I actually forget what her parents named her, Susan, I think, but she had several names throughout her life. She changed it whenever she felt she outgrew the name. Also a thought-provoking theme. 

An a slightly different topic, I was then thinking about pet names. Not nicknames for your sweet-heart but names for you pets. So I made this list to show how differently we name our pets:

Ideas for Naming Pets

1. Adjectives (Fluffy, Spotty, Tiny, etc.)
2. Famous People (Napoleon, Cleopatra, *see below, etc.)
3. Actual Names (Maggie, Jake, etc.)
4. Add Miss, Mrs. or Mr. to the beginning (Mr. Tickles, Mrs. Wish, etc.)
5. A noun (Killer, Spot, Pritty-Kitty, Skunk)
6. Random but Humourous and Effective (Snitzlefritz, Geronimo)
7. Theme names (Napoleon & Josephine, Chai & Mocha, The Cleopatras & Anothonys, etc.)

I think I covered most of them (if you have any more ideas put them in the comments).

When you think of it as Wikipedia does as a label for a noun, don't the adjective names make the most sense?

The other thing I want to write about is hard to explain. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, seems effective but really if a rose was called a foolunka (go with it) and you went into Safeway and said I'll have two dozen foolunkas, it doesn't have the same ring. I'm sure the flower itself would still smell as sweet, but it wouldn't have the same romantic prowess. I'd much rather get a bouqeut of roses then a dozen foolunkas, even if it is the same flower. The name foolunka does have some intrique, though, so that's worth something :)

Urg, I was going to try and make this post a little longer. Let's see... hmmm. Okay another list: 

Things on My Wall

• Twilight Calendar 2009
• Harry Potter relics
• Random calendar pictures
• A flashlight
• A letter 'A' that I made at Jina's birthday (I believe that was the Corpse Bride one :)
• A Happy Bunny heart from Valentines Day
• A paper mache tiger mask
• Random memorabilia that has no other place in the world

And last hanging from the ceiling is my fortune cookie mobile!

Well that was fun and I got a little extra length in there. Lists are great because you don't actually have to fill up a whole line!!! Yay. So far I've recruited two bloggers for BEDA... check them out in the sidebar with links!!

I will see this screen again tomorrow. Thanks for reading... :0) 

Pictures: (My Edward nametag from Valentines Day, random calendar picture, flashlight and odd craft mouse, an inside joke for Caitlyn and Jensan, Harry Potter calendar poster thing, my scary mask and Hermione (even though she's captioned as Harry).)