What’s in a name? A question usually asked by idiots!

A young Hungarian flees persecution with his family and moves to the UK in 1947. György Schwartz. Who? Exactly! What if I said George Soros? Yes. Clever chap

Was Soros ashamed of his Hungarian roots? No.
Only an idiot would be sentimental about a name, when it is a handicap. After studying at London School of Economics Soros wrote to the Managing Directors of every Merchant Bank in the country seeking a job and he got one. Doubtful he would have received any responses as György Schwartz.

Yes, it shouldn’t be that way, but that is how it is. Ruby Wachs’ parents fled the Nazis in Austrian in 1938 and once they settled in America, they changed Wachs to Wax to fit in. Helen Mironoff changed to Helen Mirren not out of disrespect for her Russian father or heritage, it was the smart thing to do. And she isn’t being sanctimonious about it. She isn’t sermonising about it. You don’t hit fame and make money as Thandie Newton and then years later, sermonise! By all means say you now want to be called Thandiwe, good for you. But please, please, leave out the sob-story. Leave out the sermonising! There are thousands out there today, who claim they do not receive invitations to job interviews due to the names on their CVs.

If your name is a handicap, ditch the idiotic pride, change the blooming name!! If we expect a woman’s surname to be her “maiden” name, which is readily tossed aside upon marriage, then it’s all well and good that Soros, Mirren and others who decided to change their names did so..

Many English names today are from Greek, Latin etc. they got changed. It happens!

Majority of us earthlings won’t change our names as we perhaps do not need to or we are not in situations where our name is a disadvantage. But for anyone who feels a name change will help them fit in better or help them avoid subconscious biases, good for them! Change the blooming name!!!

Perhaps one day the world will get smart enough such that it wouldn’t matter a jot whether you are Sabaku or Smith. Sadly, we ain’t there yet. So, for the Sabakus who are now Smiths or the Mironoffs who are now Mirren, good on ya!