What's in a Name?

This week I want to examine something that I have always thought about: the rhetoric of names. A name is one of the most defining characteristics of our beings. Many of us are given common, unoriginal names while a select few are bestowed with completely unique names (such as Jermajesty, the unfortunately named son of Jermaine Jackson). The worst part is, we have no say of our names, and are virtually brainwashed into liking them. We are basically trained to answer to them, and after hearing it so many times and becoming pretty attached to it, we are almost forced to accept it. Yes, we can go through the process of changing our names, but that is pretty uncommon and seems like a lot of work. Plus, only people that want to be named Spiderman actually go and get their names changed.

I hope to be half the man he is. fanpop.com

I was born with the name Jack. It was after my grandfather, whose real name is John, but everyone calls him Jack (it gets a little confusing when we're in the same room during the holidays). My mom always says she made naming kids Jack popular, because I was born a couple of years before a huge boom of little boys being named Jack.

What I've always noticed is how many television or movie characters are named Jack. When you look for it, you really find it quite a lot. For example, just to name a few, there's: Jack Bauer, from 24; Jack Shephard from Lost; Jack McCoy from Law and Order; Jack Dawson from Titanic; Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean; Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas; and the list goes on. I have to add that Jack is much more common in American television and film compared to those from the UK and Australia, where the name is much more popular (the most popular in recent years). What about American television calls for the dominance of my name?

Something all the characters named Jack have in common is that they are all extremely strong male leads. Jack Bauer stopped countless terrorist attacks while Jack Shephard lead the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. And Jack Dawson let himself freeze to death in the water so Rose could live after the sinking of the Titanic. Something about the name Jack seems to breed these selfless, complicated leaders. I am focusing on Jack not only because it is my name, but because of the standards I have to face while competing with these giants of the media. It really isn't fair for me.

Hahhaha, anyway, this is just something I've always noticed, because anyone is more inclined to pay attention when their name is mentioned. I couldn't find anything like a study of what names mean in the sphere of the media, so I figured I'd right about it. I'm sure there are tons of connections between the names of characters and the traits they are given.