I LOVED reading about everyone's name meanings, and I am fascinated and also feeling a bit retarded! I never really thought about using anything but my own name. Well, when I started going on IMDB, I didn't have a choice, because of ignorance. They automatically give you the name that's on your email account, and I didn't know how to change it. And then I came here, and... well, again, I just never really thought about being anyone different.
It has me wondering, though. I love some of the names people have chosen for themselves - names that are symbolic, or from mythology. I absolutely love it, and I don't know that I could ever do it for myself. In the same way, I could never imagine changing my last name to a 'married' name. What's weird is that I knew that even when I was a little girl, maybe 5 or 6. I remember becoming aware of the fact that women (in those days, almost universally) changed their names when they got married, and I was just very clear in my mind that I never would, because... well, because my name just feels like my name!
And when I think about choosing a username, it kind of feels the same way. And I'm also the same with costumes.. like, Hallowe'en costumes. I will dress theatrically if called upon to dress up, but I'm still 'me'... I've never liked dressing up 'as' anyone, or obscuring my own appearance and taking on that of a character or a historical figure.
so weird!! I just wonder why I'm like that and so many other people don't mind it, or even like it... does it mean that my sense of identity is somehow fragile and I need to keep sort of reminding myself of it? I really don't know!
But, that having been said, I could imagine using other "ma" names as versions of my name, especially if they are the name of someone in my family. Like, I've often thought, if I need a nom de plume, that I would probably use my grandmother's name, Mara. I have also on occasion used my daughter's name, which is similar and also starts with an "Ma".
And I've lately noticed, when I write a story, if I give a female character a name starting with 'M', she's usually a thinly disguised version of me!
Is anyone else weird and inflexible about names like I am? I just have so much admiration for everyone's self-naming capabilities!